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Junior Witter (37-2-2, 22 KO's, 139 pounds) vs. Devon Alexander (18-0, 11 KO's, 138.5 pounds)

This title is currently vacant. As noted, it had been held by Timothy Bradley, who had been ordered to take a mandatory title defense against Alexander. Bradley decided to vacate the title to take the more lucrative and interesting match with Campbell in tonight's main event.

Witter has held this title before, but lost it in a shocking split decision upset to Bradley on May 10, 2008 at the Trent FM Arena in Nottingham, England. The Englishman entered the match as a 6-to-1 favorite and on a nearly 8 year undefeated streak. Bradley entered the match as a late replacement. The Californian got the title shot without winning a title eliminator, because Jose Luis Castillo missed weight for their scheduled title elimination match in March. The American was not even supposed to face Witter that night, but Demetrius Hopkins pulled out of the match with promotional issues. This meant Witter was facing an untested opponent who had not been in action for 11 months. To the shock of almost everyone of attendance Witter was then dominated by Bradley. In round 6, Bradley dropped Witter for the first time in Witter's professional career with a Chuck Liddell style overhand right. When the judges turned in a split decision, the crowd booed the scorecard that had Witter winning. The partisan English crowd knew their countryman had been beaten that night. A full recap of that match can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2008/12/23/recap-of-timothy-bradley-jr-vs-junior-witter.html

Witter won his last match via knockout at 1:10 of round 3 over Victor Hugo Castro in a match at 147 pounds on November 8, 2008 at York Hall in London, England. Witter scored a knockdown in round 2 and looked like he would end the match then, but Castro was saved by the bell in that round. That is Witter's only match since his upset loss to Bradley.

Witter is The Ring magazine's number 3 contender at 140 pounds to their champion in the weight class, Manny Pacquiao.

Alexander had a strong amateur boxing career that ended when he lost on a tie-breaker in the final round of qualifying to represent the United States at 141 pounds during the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.

Alexander's last match was a knockout victory 58 seconds into round 9 over Jesus Rodriguez on April 24, 2009 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The match was designed to give the hometown boxer, Alexander, an impressive win. The match started badly, though. Alexander was knocked down with 50 seconds to go in round 1. However, the referee missed the call and ruled it a slip. That changed the scoring of the round from 10-8 for Rodriguez to 10-9 for Alexander as the hometown boxer had won the rest of the round. That ruling would prove irrelevant. Alexander dominated the rest of the match. In round 2, Rodriguez turned to his corner in confusion at what to do against Alexander. In round 8, Rodriguez took a knee, signaling to his corner that he wanted no more of Alexander. They ignored it. That forced a game Rodriguez to take a knee and be counted out in round 9 as the people who were supposed to protect him from taking a severe beating against Alexander completely failed to do their jobs. A full recap can be found here: http://www.number1contender.net/the-latest/2009/7/28/recap-of-devon-alexander-vs-jesus-rodriguez.html

Alexander is unranked by The Ring and ranked by boxrec.com as the number 20 boxer in the world at

140 pounds.

At 22-years old, Alexander is 13 years younger then the 35-year-old Witter. Alexander has the height advantage standing 5' 8" tall, while Witter stands 5' 7.5" tall. The American has the reach advantage with a 71" wingspan, compared to the Englishman's 67" wingspan. Neither boxers' unofficial weight approaching match time is available, but the numbers suggest that Alexander will be the heavier boxer in the ring. Alexander will box out of the southpaw stance. Witter will primarily box out of the orthodox stance, but is known to switch up his stance throughout a match.

California's modified version of the unified rules of boxing are in effect for this event. Two of the judges keeping official score of this match from ringside are from California and the other is from Mexico. The referee is Dr. Lou Moret.

With 1:50 to go in round 1, Witter misses with a wild right hook and does a somersault. The crowd cheered Witter's athleticism and the boxer sheepishly smiled as the referee dusted him off from the obvious slip. The action is resumed with 1:45 to go in the round. Sloppy round 1 that Witter may have barely won, 10-9. With a little over 2:00 to go in round 2, there is some blood coming out of Witter's mouth. The cut probably came from Witter's mouth colliding with Alexander's head or shoulder. Alexander landed a good right hand in the last 15 seconds to win round 2, 10-9. The match is even after 2 rounds on my scorecard, 19-19.

 

They just announced that August 10-14 will be Carano-Cyborg week. During that week on Sho2, Gina Carano will host a series of the best matches she and Cris Cyborg have had every night leading up to their Strikeforce main event on August 15.

 

Witter has a cut above his right eye when he comes out for round 3. It was probably cause by a head butt in round 2. The cut is above the outside of Witter's eye and may be dripping blood into the eye, effecting the boxer's vision. By landing repeated right hands, Alexander easily wins round 3, 10-9. A close-up shot in the corner after round 3 shows Witter is cut very badly. It is wide and directly on the eyelid. Witter is using a British cutman, which could be a problem here. In Britain, they are banned from using the substance used to close cuts in the United States. The substance used to close cuts in the United States is a better clotting agent, but it requires experience to be able to use it properly. Therefore, Witter's corner is probably using the less effective British clotting agent or not maximizing the effectiveness of the American clotting agent, which would be worse. Alexander easily wins round 4, 10-9. This event is using an extremely small ring (think ROH on HDNet small) and it is giving the boxer, Witter, insufficient room to maneuver. Whenever Witter tries to move he runs into the ropes and decides to hold on instead. This is making the match very ugly. After 4 rounds, Alexander leads on my scorecard, 39-37. After 4 rounds the members of press row keeping unofficial score of this match for Showtime have this match a majority decision in favor of Alexander: 39-37, 38-38, 39-37.

 

After round 4, Showtime's Jim Gray is going to interview 154-pound titleholder Cory Spinks, a stablemate of Alexander's. Spinks said that he imitated Witter in sparring for Alexander in the training leading up to this match. The 154-pound champion said that Alexander is executing the game-plan perfectly, except that the young boxer could throw a few more jabs.

 

Alexander landed a huge counter left hand as Witter threw a wild left hook that forced Witter to hold on for the last half of round 5 to avoid a trip to the canvas. The American takes round 5 big, 10-9. The referee is becoming very frustrated with Witter's constant holding and the Englishman is getting near the point that he will lose a point for continuing to hold. The first thing Witter's corner told him when he got back to the stool was to not look for any favors from the referee. This is one of the best referee's in the business, therefore Witter's reputation as an elite boxer will not help him in this match. The southpaw Alexander lands more hard right hands to take round 6, 10-9. Witter is so inactive that it looks like he has a severe case of jet-lag. With around 1 minute to go in round 7 the small crowd begins to boo this match as loudly as they can, which is not very loud. Witter's refusal to punch and desire to hold is making this match brutally boring. Alexander lands more hard punches to win round 7, 10-9. After 7 rounds, Alexander leads on my scorecard, 69-64. Showtime's press row scoring has Alexander ahead on all the cards after 7 rounds: 68-65, 67-66, 68-65.

 

With 1:40 to go in round 8, Witter is given his final warning for holding. The next time the Englishman blatantly holds will cost him a point. With the way Witter has been hugging the point deduction should be coming in about 30 seconds. Witter held at least 5 more times in the last 1:40 of round 8, but released his clinch every time the referee yelled at him to do so to avoid the point deduction. Alexander out-works Witter to win round 8, 10-9. This match just got stopped in the corner. Witter has decided to quit in the corner after round 8. Witter did not appear hurt or out of this match. This is bizarre. Witter a formerly proud champion seems to have quit in a championship match out of frustration. The audio in the corner had the referee going over and warning Witter one more time about holding. Witter's corner in conference with the boxer then told the referee "That's it."

 

The official decision courtesy of the always "Classy" Jimmy Lennon, Jr. is that at: 3:00 of round 8 the blue corner (Witter) has retired making the winner by technical knockout, still undefeated and now the WBC Super Lightweight Champion of the World, Devon Alexander "the Great". The win moves Alexander to 19-0 with now 12 wins coming by way of knockout.

 

Alexander was too overwhelmed with emotion to say anything of note in his post match interview other then he was not surprised Witter quit.

 

Witter left the ring and went to his locker room to escape doing an in-ring post-match interview. He would later give a post-match interview in his locker room. There Witter said his left elbow went out in round 4 and then gave some confusing explanation of how he just did not feel right in the ring. It still basically boiled down to got frustrated at his own ineffectiveness and quit. Witter said he is not retiring.

 

Alexander completely dominated this match. All of the official judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage had Alexander winning: 79-73, 79-73, 80-72. The 22-year-old Alexander is actually 2 months younger then the much heralded Amir Khan who won a title on July 11 and became the third youngest Brit to ever capture a major world title (more on that in the news and notes section). The St. Louis native started boxing at 7-years old with a class of 20 other boys. Of those other 19 boys, 9 are dead from street violence and the other 10 are in jail. One of the ones in jail is Alexander's brother. The fact Alexander was able to make it out of the rough urban environment he grew up in is a near miracle. The fact he was able to do that and win a world championship so young is the type of story usually destined for a Hollywood film. Alexander is now going to return home and before the match the best player in baseball, who is on Alexander's favorite team, the St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols has already promised to present Alexander with his title belt on the field before a game at Busch Stadium.

 

Witter said before the match he had to win tonight to continue boxing. Instead he was completely dominated and quit on his stool. Witter's boring style made him largely unmarketable in England even as a titleholder. The Witter-Bradley title match was on the undercard of a Carl Froch match in Froch's hometown. Witter is probably going to have to appear on small shows throughout Europe to rebuild following this loss. There are no positives for Witter to take out of this match.