WBC Junior Welterweight champion Devon Alexander "The Great" parlayed an outstanding performance and a dynamic, brain rattling uppercut into his inclusion among the elite fighters in the 140-pound division.

 

The joint Don King and Warriors Boxing production of HBO's "Boxing After Dark," featuring a Junior Welterweight unification bout between unbeaten WBC title holder Devon Alexander (19-0 with 12 KOs) and IBF champion Juan "Iron Twin" Urango (22-2 with 17 KOs),  was expected to be a close, evenly matched contest between the two title holders.

However, the Saint Louis, Missouri native Alexander left no doubt as to his clear superiority over Colombia’s Urango, recording a sensational, 8-round TKO over the hard punching IBF champion.

Alexander was making his first defense of the WBC title he won by stopping England’s Junior Witter in August 2009.  The Colombian was defending his IBF crown for the second time, and making his first appearance since a sensational knockout victory over Randall Bailey, also in August 2009.

 

From the onset, it was apparent that Alexander’s superior boxing skill and speed would pose a big hurdle for Urango’s slow, methodical style to overcome.  Combining a lighting quick jab, side-to-side movement and accurate combination punching, Alexander controlled the pace and landed effective uppercuts almost at will whenever Urango attempted to fight at close range.

 

Displaying tremendous determination, confidence and excellent speed, Alexander easily swept the first five rounds, and his right hand uppercuts seemed to stun Urango whenever they landed, which was frequently.  His rapid, laser like jabs opened a cut above the IBF champion's left eye, and his fast counter combinations kept Urango from being successful in anything he tried.  It was clear that Urango could not cope with his opponent's superior speed.

 

Although Urango never stopped pressing the action, his punches were mostly wild misses as Alexander’s outstanding speed avoided most of the punches.  It wasn’t until the sixth round that the Colombian native was able to land any effective blows, mostly to the body. It may have been the only round of the fight that could have been awarded to Urango, although Alexander was never in any danger. 

 

By the eight round, it was apparent that Urango was far behind in the scorecards and his only chance at victory would be a knockout. He started the round quickly searching for the elusive "KO" by applying his usual pressing attack.  Half way through the round,  Urango missed with a right hook and Alexander countered with a tremendous right uppercut that landed squarely on the Colombian's jaw.

 

The force of the punch seemed to lift Urango off his feet, and down he went.  Very dazed and on wobbly legs, Urango got up and took referee Benjy Estevez' mandatory 8-count. However, he could not avoid Alexander’s follow up, and the coup-de-grace came in the form of Alexander's right hook to the head followed by another right uppercut that again dropped Urango.

 

Once again, Urango bravely got up on very unsteady legs and appeared to be a beaten fighter as referee Estevez called a halt to the action, declaring Alexander the TKO winner at 1:18 of the eight round. The devastating defeat was the first knockout loss in Urango's career, dropping his record to 22-3-1 with 17 KOs but most damaging was the loss of his title..

 

With the very impressive win against the tough hard hitting Colombian,  Devon Alexander retained his WBC Junior Welterweight crown while capturing Urango’s IBF title.

 

The extremely talented 140-pound division boasts outstanding fighters such as Manny Pacquiao, Amir Khan, Paulie Malignaggi, Timothy Bradley, Edwin Valero, Marcos Maidana, Nate Campbell, Victor Ortiz, Juan Diaz, and to a lesser extent Antonio DeMarco, Lamont Peterson, and the aforementioned Juan Urango. 

 

Due to the very impressive performance and all-around boxing skills and power displayed in his overwhelming victory over Urango, the name of Devon Alexander "The Great" can now be added to the list.