By Ian S Palmer
Former two division world champion Devon Alexander of St. Louis takes on Aaron Martinez of Mexico at the Gila River Arena in Glendale, Arizona this Wednesday, October 12th. The 10-round welterweight bout is a part of a Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) card and can be seen live in the U.S. on the ESPN network. Fans in the UK can catch all the action on Sky Sports. Alexander has fallen below the radar lately and he’ll need a convincing win over Martinez if he hopes to vault himself back into world title contention.
The 28-year-old southpaw Alexander will climb through the ring ropes with a record of 26-3 along with 14 Kos while the 33-year-old Martinez is year-old Aron Martinez 19-4-1 with 4 Kos to his name. Alexander hopes to rebound after being dominated by England’s Amir Khan over 12 rounds in his last outing back in December of 2014. Alexander didn’t let his hands ago against Khan and paid for it by dropping a wide unanimous decision as he attempted to outbox the former champion. Alexander, a former junior welterweight and welterweight titleholder has now lost two of his last three bouts.
Meanwhile, Martinez’s last outing was in June when he dropped a controversial 10-round split decision to former two division world champion Robert Guerrero. The relatively light-hitting Martinez surprised his opponent by dropping him in the fourth round, but couldn’t finish Guerrero off. Martinez tired slightly during the second half of the contest and lost by a close decision. Martinez, who now resides in East Los Angeles, has been beaten three times in his last four outings.
Alexander stands just over 5-feet-8-inches tall with a reach of 70 inches. He’s fought 201 rounds since turning pro back in 2004 and has a knockout ratio of 48 per cent. He’s taken on top boxers such as Khan, Shawn Porter, Jesus Soto Karass, Tim Bradley, Marcos Maidana, Lucas Matthysse, Andriy Kotelnik, Junior Witter, Juan Urango and DeMarcus Corley. Alexander’s never been stopped and his losses have come against Khan, Bradley and Porter.
Martinez stands 5-feet-9-inches tall and has a 69-inch reach. He turned pro in 2004 and has 153 rounds under his belt since then. Martinez lacks power as his knockout ratio is just 17 per cent, but he still had enough behind his punches to drop Guerrero in June, so Alexander shouldn’t take him too lightly on Wednesday night. Martinez has also lost to Josesito Lopez, Abdon Lozano and Jessie Vargas with Lopez stopping him in the seventh round in April of last year.
If Martinez can perform the same way he did against Guerrero without running out of gas then this could be a competitive and fairly entertaining fight for the fans.
Prediction
Martinez may be a bit better than people realize, but Alexander needs to take the fight to him right from the opening bell, especially since this is a 10-round bout. Alexander is just 28 years old even though he’s been around for quite some time. If he sticks to what he does best then he should earn a win here. A decision is most likely, but he could also record a late stoppage.
