By Ian S Palmer
Veterans Devon Alexander and Jesus Soto-Karass will meet in a 10-round welterweight clash at Carson, California’s Stub Hub Center this Saturday, June 21. Both men were beaten in their last outings and are looking to get their careers back on track. Alexander lost his title to Shawn Porter by unanimous decision while Karass was stopped in the ninth round by Keith Thurman. American fans can check out the action love on Showtime while Canadians can catch it on Super Channel and Britons on BoxNation.
Alexander, a former two-division world champion, is regarded as a top boxer with good power while Karass is known more for his brawling abilities. Karass is tough and has a lot of heart, but he’s certainly not the heaviest hitter Alexander’s faced during his career. The matchup in styles should provide fans with some good entertainment. The 27-year-old Alexander of St. Louis will climb through the ropes with a 25-2 record along with 14 Kos while the 31-year-old Karass of Sinaloa, Mexico is 28-9-3 with 18 Kos. They both have a 72-inch reach while Karass has a 1.5-inch height advantage over the 5-foot-8 Alexander. The only other major difference is the fact Alexander’s a southpaw.
Karass’ record could be a little deceiving since he’s lost nine fights, but he’s taken on some of the toughest boxers in his division over the years. These include Thurman, Andre Berto, Selcuk Aydin, Marcos Maidana, Gabriel Rosado, Mike Jones, Alfonzo Gomez, David Estrada, Yuri Foreman, Freddy Hernandez, and Vince Phillips. Karass has been stopped three times, by Thurman, Maidana, and Rosado, so his chin is questionable at this stage of his career.
Alexander is a former junior welterweight and welterweight champion who has beaten the likes of Junior Witter, DeMarcus Corley, Juan Urango, Andriy Kotelnik, Lucas Matthysse, Randall Bailey, Lee Purdy, and Maidana. Alexander has never been stopped and his only two losses were against Porter and Timothy Bradley. The loss to Bradley was a 10-round technical decision after the fight was stopped due to cuts suffered by Alexander courtesy of Bradley head butts.
Alexander can take a good shot and that’s a good trait to have when facing a guy like Karass as he’s a brawler who likes to throw a high volume of punches. Alexander has fine movement with a good defense, but isn’t a knockout artist. Karass has some boxing skills to go along with his high-pressure style of fighting, but he’s not at the same level as Alexander. However, Alexander has had trouble in the past with boxers who fight with styles similar to Karass.
Prediction
Alexander will try to keep this contest a boxing match while Karass would prefer to turn it into something a little uglier, so we have a matador/bull scenario here. But while Karass may throw a lot of punches each round, his connect percentage isn’t too impressive. This means he could leave himself open for Alexander to pick him off with counter shots. Alexander will need to show Karass he possesses decent power if he hopes to keep him at bay. It has the potential to be an exciting fight with both men having their moments. However, look for Alexander to have his hand held up by the referee after 10 tough rounds.
http://youtu.be/00RY4H8u6Uw
