Southpaw WBC and IBF junior welterweight (140 pounds) king Devon Alexander overcame the pressure of fighting a main event before the home crowd, a blood-streaming cut over his right eye, a bad cramp in one of his legs in the 12th round, and the steady pressure from a game foe against former WBA titlist Andriy Kotelnik on the way to winning Saturday night's tough, 12-round unanimous decision before a crowd of more than 10,000 in their HBO-televised bout from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Mo.
Judges Jerry Roth, Oren Schellenberger and Denny Nelson all had it for Alexander, 116-112, while FanHouse had him winning by a slim margin, 115-113.
In victory, the 23-year-old Alexander rose to 21-0, with 13 knockouts, dropping the 32-year-old Kotelnik to 31-4-1, with 13 in Alexander's second defense of his WBC title, and the first of his IBF crown.
Alexander kept alive his hopes for an HBO-televised Jan 29 showdown between himself and WBO counterpart Tim Bradley, which is close to being finalized, said Bradley's promoter, Gary Shaw.
Shaw told FanHouse that he and Alexander's promoter, Don King, "are pretty much on the same page," and HBO's President of Sports, Ross Greenburg, is high on the match up and the date.
In the ring after the fight, Alexander held up a T-shirt which read in red letters, "Bradley, U Next."
"I want Bradley next," said Alexander. "He keeps talking that he's the best in the division. I want him next. And whoever else can come after that."
The 26-year-old Bradley (26-0, 11 knockouts) of Palm Springs, Calif., is coming off of last month's unanimous decision over welterweight (147 pounds) Carlos Luis Abregu (29-1, 23 KOs) of Salta Salta, Argentina, in an HBO-televised, non-title bout.
Bradley and Alexander are considered two of the premiere fighters in perhaps boxing's deepest and most talent-rich weight class, along with WBA champion Amir Khan (23-1, 17 knockouts), WBA interim titlist Marcos Rene Maidana (28-1, 27 KOs) and Victor Ortiz (27-2-1, 21 KOs).
Kotelnik owns a unanimous decision victory over Maidana by split-decision accomplished for the WBA crown in February of 2009, but was coming off of but as coming off of a July, 2009 unanimous decision loss which dethroned him as titlist.
"You know what? It was an okay performance. You know that I'm my own worst critic. He's a tough fighter. He's way better than that's at 140 fighting. They're fighting guys that have more losses than wins. He's a tough fighter and an ex-champion," said Alexander.
"I tried to stay patient. We had an A game, a B game and a C game. If we couldn't do the A game, then we had to go to the B game. But you know what? He came ready," said Alexander. "Kotelnik knew that he had to win because he tasted defeat before. He trained hard for me because he knew that I was going to come in shape."
Kotelnik applied steady pressure behind his jab and followup right hands, landing more punches, in the end, than the busier Alexander, whose trainer, Kevin Cunningham, expressed displeasure with the way his fighter was excecuting.
"I've got to listen to Kevin. He's my eyes in there. So I've got to listen to Kevin. When he told me to box, then I needed to box. My left leg went out on me," said Alexander. "But it was okay. I stuck to it in there and I got the victory. It went out in the 12th round. I caught a cramp. But no excuses. I trained hard for 12 rounds and I got the victory."
Of the cut, Alexander said, "it was my first cut. I didn't know what to expect. But I wasn't tripping off of it. I just kept fighting because that's what real champions do."
Asked if he felt pressure fighting in front of his hometown crowd, Alexander said, "Not at all."
"I love St. Louis. St. Louis is behind me 100 percent. I love St. Louis, and I want to bring many, many fights out here. As you can see, they came out and supported me."
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