A Serious Man
By: Andrew Harrison
Category: Uncategorized
| Aperture: | f/2.8 |
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| Focal Length: | 52mm |
| ISO: | 3200 |
| Shutter: | 1/320 sec |
| Camera: | NIKON D3S |
There’s a dream sequence in Ethan and Joel Coen’s latest flick which sees lead character Larry Gopnik having his head repeatedly slammed against a blackboard. This scene came flooding back to me after hearing Devon Alexander being described as ‘a serious man’ on Sunday morning. Alexander had just demolished fellow light welterweight titlist Juan Urango and let me tell you, ‘serious’ is not the word, ‘lethal’ would be more fitting. Indeed I can only imagine the Colombian tough guy carried a Gopnik sized headache home with him after walking into one of the most picture perfect right uppercuts I’ve ever seen hit its mark.
Going in, the unbeaten and quick handed Alexander was favoured to win. Overwhelmingly however, he had been pegged to do it over the distance, with Urango seen as being simply too tough a proposition to halt inside schedule. This is a man remember, who had forced elite fighters Ricky Hatton and Andre Berto to employ holding and grappling tactics to nullify his relentless charges, earning them decision victories yet precious little in the way of plaudits for style and technique.
Alexander didn’t entertain these spoiling tactics for an instant and instead circled his brawny foe, countering him with sharp and accurate arrow-like punches. I’d likened Devon to Charles Brewer in my preview piece yet in actual fact, former stand out super bantam and repeat conqueror of the marvellous Marco Antonio Barrera, ‘Poison’ Junior Jones would have been a far better comparison (Alexander even grunts when he throws his shots ala Jones). Although the Monica Seles impersonation was a tad grating, Alexander’s boxing more than made up for it, this was good to watch with his form both fluent and excellent.
Although Urango edged closer in rounds six and seven and began to land with hefty hooks, Alexander didn’t ever panic. He stuck to his boxing and with advice from trainer Kevin Cunningham ringing in his ears, he threw the right uppercut which ultimately ended the fight. It was a highlight reel shot, one which was set up beautifully. As Urango pressed his man and attempted to throw a right hand, Alexander chastened his advancement with a left hand clip over his man’s right mitt. Urango immediately charged again, this time with his head lowered further to avoid another left hander, only to walk right into a scorching right uppercut which lifted him off his feet and dumped him flat onto his back.
After taking a count from the excellent Benjy Esteves, Urango gallantly attempted to carry on; however the game was already up. Another uppercut crumpled him mid-ring for a rather shocking stoppage defeat, one which marks Alexander out as a potential heir to Manny Pacquiao’s light welterweight crown. Indeed a mooted clash with Timothy Bradley could conceivably qualify for the Ring 140 championship (which presumably will be returned by the Filipino) towards the end of 2010.
Alexander is yet another deeply spiritual, super talented US fighter to have emerged over the past year or two after the aforementioned Bradley and more recently Andre ‘SOG’ Ward. All three look potential pound for pound types with an abundance of quickness and power as well as a hunger and mental toughness which traditionally separates the rest from the best.
Next up for Alexander could be a homecoming gimme against the faded Zab Judah. Here’s hoping that once that assignment’s been taken care of we get to see him in with Bradley to decide the future of 140 lbs.
That’s a serious fight.
* Tomorrow: Paul Smith v Tony Dodson Preview
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