Victor Ortiz vs. Devon Alexander next Sat. on PBC on Fox

By Boxing News - 02/11/2018 - Comments

Image: Victor Ortiz vs. Devon Alexander next Sat. on PBC on Fox

By Allan Fox: Devon Alexander will be fighting former WBC welterweight champion Victor Ortiz next Saturday night on February 17t in a 12 round fight on Premier Boxing Champions on Fox at the Don Haskins Convention Center in El Paso, Texas. The start time for the Ortiz-Alexander televised is at 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT. on Fox.

This is an important fight for both Alexander and Ortiz, as they’ve trying to resurrect their careers after a number of setbacks. The winner of the Ortiz-Alexander fight can move forward to bigger and better things. The loser will need to consider their options.

Alexander recently made a comeback last November in winning a 10 round unanimous decision against Walter Castillo. The 31-year-old Alexander looked good for a fighter that hadn’t fought in 2 years. Before that win, Alexander had lost 3 out of his last 4 fights to Amir Khan, Aaron Martine and Shawn Porter. It would be interesting to see if Alexander could avenge any of those defeats. Beating Porter would be a tall over for Alexander, because he’s one of the elite welterweights in the division right now, and he’s been busy with his career.

Like Alexander, Ortiz is 31 as well, but he’s a big question mark in terms of whether he’ll be able to be successful with his own comeback. Ortiz has tried to turn things about since losing 3 fights in a row to Floyd Mayweather Jr., Josesito Lopez and Luis Collazo, but he’s not made a lot of progress. Ortiz was knocked out in the 4th round by Andre Berto in April 2016. That was the only fight for Ortiz in 2016. Last year, Ortiz fought just once in defeating journeyman Saul Corral by a 4th round knockout. Ortiz looked good in that fight, but he didn’t fight again for the remainder of the year. That’s bad news for a fighter that is trying to come back competing only once a year. It makes you wonder whether Ortiz is serious about wanting to get his career back on track. If he is, then he needs to fight a lot more than one time per year.

Ortiz looked powerful and quick in his win over Corral last July. If he’s able to start off quickly like that against the southpaw Alexander on Saturday, then he’ll have a reasonably good chance of scoring a knockout or winning a points decision over him. Alexander hasn’t faced anyone with the kind of punching power that Ortiz has going for him since his fight with Marcos Maidana in 2012. That was a fight in which Alexander held all night long to keep Maidana from letting his hands go. Alexander won a 10 round unanimous decision in that fight, but only because he was able to tie Maidana up to keep him from throwing punches. Maidana fought like he wasn’t mentally into the fight. He didn’t even try and fight through the frequent clinches by Alexander in that fight.

“Come February 17th, I expect to show I’m still one of the best welterweights in the world,” Alexander said to Premier Boxing Champions about his fight next Saturday night against Victor Ortiz. “I’m still able to compete at a high level, and I’m still one of the best welterweights,” Alexander said.

Even if Alexander beats Ortiz in this fight, it doesn’t mean that he’s one of the best welterweights in the division. Ortiz isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies at 147. For Alexander to prove that he’s one of the best at welterweight, he’ll need to beat one of the top contenders like Bradley Skeete, Jessie Vargas, Danny Garcia, Adrian Granados or Danny Garcia. It would be very surprising if Alexander’s management is able to or willing to put him in with any of those talented contenders.

Alexander captured the WBC light welterweight title in August 2009 with an 8th round stoppage win over Junior Witter. Alexander successfully defended the WBC belt twice in defeating IBF light welterweight champion Juan Urango and Andriy Kotelnik. The win over Kotelnik was a controversial 12 round unanimous decision in August 2010. Alexander lost his IBF/WBC 140 lb. titles to WBO light welterweight champion Timothy Bradley by a 10th round stoppage in January 2011. Alexander appeared to quit in the 10th round of the fight after Bradley rammed heads with him accidently. Alexander was wincing in pain from the head-butt at the time the referee Frank Garza halted the fight. It wasn’t the first time Alexander was head-butted accidentally by Bradley. After that loss, things went well for Alexander with him winning his next 4 fights in defeating Lucas Matthysse, Marcos Maidana, Randall Bailey and Lee Purdy. This was the zenith of Alexander’s career by far. He captured the IBF World welterweight title with a 12 round unanimous decision win over Randall Bailey in October 2012. Things didn’t stay good for Alexander unfortunately. He was beaten by Shawn Porter by a 12 round unanimous decision in December 2013. It was mostly all downhill for Alexander at that point with him losing to Khan and Aaron Martinez. Alexander did defeat Jesus Soto Karass by a 10 round unanimous decision in June 2014, but he then lost his next 2 fights to Khan and Martinez.

”As you know, the welterweight division is action-packed and I’m anxious to show I’m one of the best,” Alexander said. ”You’ve got Keith Thurman, you’ve got Danny Garcia, and you’ve got tons of other welterweights out there that can be made. I don’t care who I fight, and I’ve been like that my whole career. It doesn’t matter. I’m going to get past Ortiz and go back to the drawing board and see who we got next,” Alexander said.

Alexander is probably going to need to wait a while before he gets a fight with Thurman or Danny Garcia. Alexander will need to get at least 2 or 3 good wins under his belt before he’s considered for a fight against Thurman for his WBA/WBC welterweight titles or contender Danny Garcia, who is hoping to get a rematch with Thurman. Garcia is a popular fighter right now that a lot of top welterweights want to fight.

The co-feature bout on the Ortiz-Alexander card is super middleweight contender Caleb Plant (16-0, 10 KOs) putting his unbeaten record on the line against former world title challenger Rogelio ‘Porky’ Medina (38-8, 32 KOs) in a 12 round fight. Medina lost recently to David Benavidez last May in losing an 8th round knockout in Laredo, Texas. Medina was beaten by former IBF super middleweight champion James ‘Chunky’ DeGale by a 12 round unanimous decision in April 2016. Medina is rated #12 IBF, and he needs a big win in this fight to keep himself in the hunt for another world title shot.

The 25-year-old Plant, #6 IBF, #7 WBA, is trying to get in position for a world title shot against IBF super middleweight champion Caleb Truax. Plant would have a good chance of beating Truax or DeGale, depending on which of them emerges as the winner in their rematch. Plant has faced limited opposition since he turned pro in 2014 Plant was an alternate for the 2012 Olympic Boxing Team.

In Plant’s last 6 fights, he’s beaten these fighters:

• Andrew Hernandez

• Thomas Awimbono

• Juan De Angel

• Carlos Galvan

• Adasat Rodriguez

• Tyrone Brunson

Plant doesn’t look like he’s got the talent to beat the best fighters in the 168 lb. weight class, but he matches up well with Andre Dirrell, Truax and Tyron Zeuge. I don’t think Plant would beat WBC champion David Benavidez or WBO champion Gilberto ‘Zurdo’ Ramirez.