A puncher’s chance for Purdy?

Lee Purdy gets the chance of a lifetime against Devon Alexander this Saturday night, when the Essex puncher aims to take the American’s world welterweight crown after receiving the shot in unexpected circumstances. Purdy got the call-up after Kell Brook withdrew from the IBF title bout through injury, but he may need a bigger slice of luck at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, entering the famed gambling resort as a huge underdog.

Should the 25-year-old have his hand raised at the end of this transatlantic tussle, it would perhaps be the biggest upset by a British fighter on American shores since Lloyd Honeyghan beat Donald Currie in 1986. Sure, Alexander isn’t the unbeaten, undisputed, pound-for-pound superstar that Currie was or at least seemed back then. But let’s be honest, Purdys no Honeyghan either and whilst he’s an honest pro who shines on the domestic scene, all the evidence would point to him being in way over his head here.

Purdy (20-3-1, 13 KO’s) began his professional career with no amateur experience, but with his hard-hitting, high-pressure style fought his way to a British title in 2011.  He’s coming off a run of four stoppage victories including a ninth round TKO of Mexican Cosme Rivera in his last outing, following the collapse of a scheduled fight with Carson Jones, he of Kell Brook-gutchecking fame.

The fight with Jones was a chance for Purdy to make a name for himself on the world stage and the fact that it fell-through no doubt contributed to what some felt was a flat performance against Rivera. But boxing’s a funny old game and up popped the impromptu world title shot with Alexander. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that Purdy couldn’t turn down, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready or capable.

As his alias would suggest, ‘lights out’  has some dynamite in his fists but his performances on the domestic stage have also highlighted his limitations. Defeats to Peter McDonagh, Colin Lynes and Denton Vassell may reflect his true level as apart from a faded Rivera, he hasn’t really beaten anyone of note when you consider his record in world level context.

Alexander (24-1, 13 KO’s) may have a similar looking record to Purdy’s, but it’s littered with names that are recognisable on the world scene. A two-weight world champion, the St. Louis native has victories over DeMarcus Corley, Junior Witter, Juan Urango, Andreas Kotelnik, Marcos Maidana and Randall Bailey, plus the official recognition for his rather dubious decision win over Lucas Matthysse.

The Argentine had Devon down in that fight and appeared to land the harder shots throughout, but two of the three judges in Alexander’s home state of Missouri saw the ten round encounter his way. Disregarding the controversy over the decision however what’s relevant here is that Alexander survived the best shots from a guy like Matthysse and likewise with Maidana and Bailey, which further dilutes Purdy’s puncher’s chance.

He may not have the most entertaining style but Alexander is a world-class operator. A slick, skilled, southpaw with excellent footwork and a fast, accurate puncher, he’s also defensively sound with a good chin and will be a conundrum for Purdy to solve. The Essex man has been outboxed and has struggled with opponents who possess good feet and fast hands in the past. Those 11-1 odds you can get on Purdy might be worse value than they appear.

Yet this is boxing, a sport where Buster Douglas can beat Mike Tyson and once punch can change a fight, regardless of how many rounds he finds himself behind on the scorecards. Purdy has never been stopped and Alexander’s essentially a safety first fighter, possibly content to record a wide decision win. Purdy does have that puncher’s chance as long as he’s in there and will be going all-out to seize his opportunity.

There’s also the small matter of heart and what could happen if Alexander loses focus, something that could easily happen in a fight that he’s expected to win comfortably. Alexander’s heart was called into question when he fought Timothy Bradley, who handed him his only career loss after Devon looked for a way out in the tenth and lost on a technical decision.

Lee Purdy has heart and whilst the odds may be against him, he can beat Devon Alexander. It may unlikely, but stranger things have happened, particularly in Atlantic City.

Peterson versus Matthysse: A toe-to-toe battle of high stakes

Lucas Matthysse battles light welterweight titleholder Lamont Peterson this Saturday, but will not get the chance to lift his rival’s IBF world crown. The fight at a 141lb catchweight means that neither Peterson’s title nor Matthysse’s WBC interim strap are on offer, but nevertheless there are high stakes when the pair meet at the Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City.

The winner is expected to receive a unification bout with the division’s lineal champion, the WBC, WBA and Ring Magazine titleholder Danny Garcia. It’s essentially the second semi-final of a four-man tournament to determine the top dog at 140lbs – sorry Mike Alvarado – after Garcia’s victory over Zab Judah in April.

Matthysse (33-2, 31 KO’s) is arguably the most ferocious puncher in the sport with a frankly scary 86.1% knockout ratio and despite being avoided for his power has managed to smash his way to the fringes of world title contention. The two blemishes on the Argentine’s record each came by way of controversial split-decision to Judah and Devon Alexander, both of whom where fighting in home territory and were put on the canvas by Matthysse.

Peterson (31-1-1, 16 KO’s), who suffered well-documented adversity as a homeless teenager before his rise through the sport, achieved a professional dream in 2011, winning a world title at home with an upset of Amir Khan. His finest hour would be marred by waves of controversy however, firstly over the scoring of the fight, then by failing a drugs test ahead of a rematch.

Peterson tested positive for synthetic testosterone to scupper a return bout with Khan last May and was stripped of his IBF title ahead of a lengthy lay-off from the sport. Bizarrely however, the IBF reinstated him as champ in the wake of Khan’s knockout loss to Garcia and following the findings of an independent physician that suggested innocence on Peterson’s part, he defended his title against Kendall Holt this February, earning some redemption with an eighth-round stoppage win.

Matthysse comes off late January’s successful defence of his interim crown, with a one-punch knockout of Mike Dallas Jr in the first round. It was a fifth consecutive triumph inside the distance for the 30-year-old, with the most impressive victory in that spell coming last September, when he stopped the highly regarded and then undefeated Nigerian brawler Ajose Olusegun in the tenth.

Matthysse’s power is clearly his greatest attribute and although he has underrated boxing skills, look for him to press the action and simply try to cut the ring off looking to get Lamont out of there. The Washington native isn’t the most inclined to take a backward step either though and even if he was, perhaps doesn’t have the expeditious foot speed required to avoid Matthysse’s pressure.

What we have is a recipe for toe-to-toe warfare and a thrilling encounter with both men potentially facing a pivotal fight in their careers. Looking beyond this fight there’s Garcia, but there could be even bigger carrots on offer. As things stand, Floyd Mayweather still needs a September opponent.

Mayweather schools Guerrero with masterclass

At thirty-six years of age, after a long lay-off, a jail stint and observations of his supposedly shopworn legs, Floyd Mayweather Jr outclassed Robert Guerrero on Saturday night producing another artful display of elusive, effective boxing.

Mayweather dominated from the opening bell and after getting to grips with Guerrero in the early exchanges, pulled away from his challenger as the fight progressed and the rounds tallied up in favour of the man known as ‘Money’. Guerrero ate his money’s worth of straight right hands and missed wildly with his own currency, as the world’s highest paid pugilist continued to slip and smother punches and land with hurtful, accurate shots en route to an easy $32 million.

Going into the fight many were predicting Mayweather’s downfall, highlighting the handful of times he was caught by Miguel Cotto one year ago as well as the intervening two months spent in incarceration which would no doubt accelerate his decline. Guerrero was a southpaw too and a pressure fighter – two distinctions that had been problematic to Mayweather in the past – and the 29-year-old was also in his physical prime, blending a recipe for some to casually forecast Floyd’s first loss.

None of which came into the equation as Mayweather barely lost a round, winning by unanimous decision to improve his unbeaten record to 44-0. The scorecards however were a little closer than the action seemed, all by the reckoning of 117-111, with each judge scoring three rounds for ‘The Ghost’.

Julie Lederman and Jerry Roth both had the Gilroy, California native taking the first, whilst Duane Ford saw the opener for Floyd. A closely contested three minutes were punctuated with few scoring shots, but the clean punches that were landed came from Mayweather.

Guerrero’s gameplan was clearly based around roughhouse tactics, getting to Mayweather on the inside and imposing himself physically, taking the fight to Floyd as the aggressor. Whilst he enjoyed moments of success throughout the first two rounds however, by round 3 he was chasing Mayweather’s shadow, often left punching air.

Floyd would slip off the ropes or out of a corner, bewildering his opponent and in the centre of the ring he would counter with his trademark accuracy. That was the pattern of events almost every round with a cut opening by Guerrero’s eye in the eighth, perhaps the most one-sided three minutes of the fight in which Mayweather rocked The Ghost with a number of hard power shots.

At that stage it looked as though Floyd was on for the stoppage, but in the final rounds he was content to box and move his way to the landslide points win. In his post fight interview Mayweather revealed he had hurt his right hand, citing the injury as the reason for not ending the fight inside the distance.

No wonder it hurt given the number of times it connected flush with Guerrero’s face, with Floyd landing a remarkable 60 percent of his power punches on the night. Guerrero could only land with 19 percent of his overall punch count, a statistic owing to Floyd Mayweather Sr perhaps, who assumed head trainer duties in the build-up to the fight as his brother Roger took a back seat for the first time in thirteen years.

With the first victory of his six fight Showtime deal now under his belt, Mayweather has five more appearances to add the finishing touches to his legacy. Providing the hand injury isn’t serious he next plans to fight on September 14th, Mexican Independence Weekend, with Mexico’s Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez the biggest potential bout on offer.