Devon Alexander vs Junior Witter

Devon Alexander became the World Boxing Council super-lightweight champion at the age of 22 when Junior Witter declined to continue after eight rounds at the Agua Caliente Casino in Rancho Mirage, California, on 1 August 2009. Alexander, an unbeaten southpaw from St Louis, weighed 138 pounds, while the more experienced Witter came in at 139. The championship had become vacant after Timothy Bradley was stripped for failing to meet Alexander, the WBC’s mandatory challenger. Bradley remained on the same Showtime bill, meeting Nate Campbell in the principal contest, while Alexander and Witter were matched for the title Bradley had formerly held.

Witter entered with a record of 37 victories, two defeats and two draws. At 35, he was attempting to regain the championship he had won by outpointing DeMarcus Corley in 2006 and lost to Bradley in Nottingham two years later. His awkward switch-hitting style, sudden lunges, and ability to deliver single punches from unusual positions had troubled many opponents, but his title defeat by Bradley had exposed a declining work rate. Alexander brought a record of 18–0 and considerably less professional experience, though he had boxed extensively as an amateur and had been trained from childhood by Kevin Cunningham. Stablemate Cory Spinks was among those supporting him at ringside.

The opening round was cautious and untidy. Both men boxed from southpaw positions for periods, with Witter changing his stance and attempting to draw Alexander into mistakes. Witter’s movements remained difficult to anticipate, but he frequently reached with his punches and once missed a wide hook so badly that his momentum carried him almost to the floor. Alexander was the steadier boxer. He kept his feet beneath him, worked behind the right jab and did not pursue Witter when the Englishman moved away at angles. There was little sustained action, but Alexander’s balance and more economical punching provided the sounder foundation.

Alexander began to impose himself in the second round. He stepped forward with greater confidence, placing the jab before bringing the left hand through the centre. Witter continued to switch and tried to catch him with isolated counters, but his punches were generally thrown from too far away and without sufficient preparation. Near the bell, Alexander landed a right hook which shook Witter and gave the younger man the first definite advantage of the contest. Witter returned to his corner with blood visible inside his mouth, and by the beginning of the third there was also damage near his right eye.

The third was more forceful. Witter attempted to interrupt Alexander’s rhythm with sudden attacks, but the American was quicker to the target and more accurate once the exchanges began. A right hook again disturbed Witter during a hard passage at close range. The former champion held and moved away rather than answer immediately. Alexander was not reckless in following him. He maintained his position near the centre, forced Witter to initiate the action and countered the older man as he came within reach. Referee Lou Moret was required to separate them when Witter held, a practice which became more frequent as the contest continued.

Witter claimed afterwards that he reinjured his left hand during the fourth round. He had suffered a hairline fracture approximately six months earlier and said the pain travelled through his arm towards the elbow. During the contest he gave little outward indication of the injury, although his method changed. He increasingly began his attacks with the right hand and appeared reluctant to finish combinations with the left. The fourth was comparatively close, with Witter’s awkwardness still preventing Alexander from establishing a continuous attack, but the Englishman was working in isolated bursts while Alexander remained composed and increasingly controlled the distance.

Alexander produced the most damaging punch of the fight in the fifth. After manoeuvring Witter into range, he drove a left hand onto the former champion and left him badly shaken. Witter held immediately and used his experience to prevent Alexander from obtaining the clear follow-up that might have brought a knockdown. Alexander did not expend himself against the clinch. He returned to the jab and made Witter reset, steadily increasing the pressure without surrendering his defensive position. Witter was now carrying a cut near the right eye and was having difficulty landing anything clean enough to halt the younger man’s advance.

The sixth and seventh rounds followed much the same course. Witter moved around the perimeter, switched his stance and attempted to deliver occasional counters, but Alexander was reading the changes more readily. The American’s punches were shorter and straighter, particularly the right hook and left cross, while Witter’s attacks were becoming wider and less frequent. When Alexander closed the distance, Witter often tied him up rather than engage. Moret warned Witter about excessive holding, but no point was deducted. Alexander was not producing a heavy volume of punches, yet he was landing the clearer blows and dictating where the exchanges occurred.

By the eighth, Witter appeared discouraged as well as physically impaired. Alexander remained in control, pressing him behind the jab and catching him as he attempted to move away. Witter continued to hold when the American came close and offered little sustained offence. At the end of the round, Moret went to Witter’s corner to warn him again about the clinching. Witter then rose from his stool, crossed the ring and congratulated Alexander, making it plain that he would not answer the bell for the ninth. The referee recorded the finish as a retirement after eight rounds. Spectators, surprised by the surrender, jeered Witter and directed chants at him as the decision became clear.

All three judges had Alexander well ahead. Glenn Trowbridge scored the completed rounds 80–72, while Jerry Cantu and Benjamin Rendon each had the American leading 79–73. Witter maintained that he had regarded the fight as close and that the injured hand had made it impossible for him to produce his usual punches. His explanation was treated sceptically in some contemporary accounts because he had shown no obvious distress before withdrawing, though his corner also attributed the retirement to the hand injury. It was the first stoppage defeat of Witter’s 42-bout career.

Alexander improved his record to 19–0 and received the vacant green championship belt with evident emotion. His victory had not come through a prolonged assault or a dramatic knockdown, but through discipline against an opponent whose style was intended to create disorder. Alexander refused to overreach, maintained his balance and gradually took away Witter’s opportunities to counter. Witter’s injury may have contributed to the ending, but by the time he retired he had been cut, hurt and comprehensively outscored. The official cards accurately represented a contest in which the younger man had solved the former champion’s awkward methods and established clear command before the unexpected conclusion.

Junior Witter had been a good champion and a horrible man to box at his best. He could switch stances, punch from odd angles and make an opponent look foolish, but the signs of decline were already there. Timothy Bradley had taken his WBC title fifteen months earlier, and although Witter returned with a knockout win, he was 35 and attempting to regain the vacant belt against an unbeaten 22-year-old in Devon Alexander.

I thought Alexander handled him exactly as a young fighter should handle an awkward veteran. He did not chase Witter around or fall for all the feints and stance changes. He stayed balanced, used his right jab and brought the left hand straight through the middle. By the third round, Witter was bleeding around the mouth and right eye. In the fifth, Alexander hurt him badly with a left hand, and Witter survived by grabbing hold.

Witter claimed he reinjured an old left-hand fracture in the fourth, but the injury does not explain everything. He was being outboxed, repeatedly shaken and increasingly reduced to holding. When he retired after the eighth, the judges had Alexander ahead 80–72 and 79–73 twice. Those scores were right.

I will not call Witter a coward. Fighters know when their body is no longer responding, and there is no honour in taking unnecessary punishment. But this was also the night age caught him. Alexander was quicker, stronger and more disciplined, and he took the title without ever allowing Witter’s tricks to become a serious factor.