Boxing News Boxing News
The big fight card held at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis last night produced a major upset and a close call amid three world title bouts put on by Don King.
In the main event, WBC/IBF light welter king Devon Alexander was lucky to escape his contest with Andriy Kotelnik with his belts still intact as the Ukrainian put the local hero to the test over the course of 12 rounds.
Kotelnik’s greater experience showed as Alexander was engaging in only his third world class level contest. The 23 year old southpaw was fortunate that the challenger doesn’t possess a great deal of concussive power in his punches.
Alexander and Kotelnik traded punches for the entire bout with the champion busier but the challenger landing with a higher degree of accuracy. Many rounds were difficult to score but in the end the judges favored the St. Louis native.
Alexander retains the titles via scores of 116-112 on all three cards, improving to 21-0 (13) while Kotelnik drops to 31-4-1 (13), having lost two consecutive world title bouts.
A big upset took place on the bill as light middle Cornelius Bundrage, 30-4 (18), successfully stepped up to world level at age 37 and unseated IBF titlist Cory Spinks, 37-6 (11).
Although five years younger at 32, southpaw Spinks has now slipped to the point from his glory days as the unified welterweight world champion that he was battered from the start by the shorter Bundrage.
Light heavyweight Glen Johnson, 50-14-2 (34), gave it one last go at age 41 but couldn’t erase the youth advantage of 28 year old IBF champ Tarvoris Cloud, 21-0 (18), who retained after 12 with three scores of 116-112.
Unbeaten cruiserweights Ryan Coyne, 15-0 (5), and Warren Browning, 12-1-1 (8), went at it for the vacant USNBC strap with Coyne producing a stoppage of his rival at 2:21 of the ninth frame.
