Boxing Preview Analysis: Devon Alexander vs. Timothy Bradley

In a fascinating trade fight tonight, two 140 pound champions, Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley and Devon Alexander, come face to face in a unification bout at the Silverdome in Detroit.

Amir Khan aside, this is a fight between the top 2 in the division. With Khan as a possible future opponent this is definitely a chance for bragging rights for the two unbeaten Americans.

British fight fans will of course know these men from their wins over former champion Junior Witter in world title fights. In May, 2008 as underdog, Bradley travelled to Nottingham, England to outpoint an at the time a red hot Witter over 12 hard fought rounds.

Since then Bradley has defended five times. The biggest win since winning the title was a unification victory over Kendall Holt in Montreal in 2009.

For Alexander, he picked up the vacant WBC title in August 2009 with a seventh round injury victory over former champion Junior Witter. Although a hand injury prevented Witter from going on, Alexander was well in control. Respected names such as Juan Urango and Andriy Kotelnik have since been defeated in defences.

So what happens tonight? Rumour has it that ticket sales are low for this one which surprises me considering its an unification fight between two respected unbeaten fighters. That being said we should see some good action whether there’s one person or a million.

If we break the fight down then we can say Alexander has the advantage in power and also the opponent’s nightmare of a southpaw stance. In Bradley, I think we have the more complete fighter. He is certainly more experienced and for me, and this includes Khan, is the number one man in the division.

The one danger I see for Bradley is that he can occasionally become sloppy in fights and this may make him susceptible to Alexander’s power. Having said that, I feel that Bradley has enough smarts to win this one.

I envisage a close, competitive and busy fight, but one that Bradley will emerge victorious in over the 12 round course. He may even have to get off the deck to do it though.