Alexander Has Reassessed, Recharged Since Khan Loss

by David P. Greisman

Devon Alexander’s fight this Wednesday against Aron Martinez will be his first fight of 2015, and he’ll be going for his first victory since his June 2014 decision over Jesus Soto-Karass.

Last year ended with a unanimous decision loss to Amir Khan, the second defeat for Alexander in his previous three fights and his third blemish overall — he lost his world title to Shawn Porter by decision in late 2013 and was on the short end of a unification bout against Timothy Bradley back when both were at junior welterweight in 2011.

It’s taken some time for Alexander to return, but Alexander says that time away was good for him.

“After a loss you want to step back and reassess things. You want to make sure that everything is right. You want to see what went wrong. You want to just make sure that this doesn’t happen again,” Alexander said on an Oct. 12 media conference call. “I’m a winner. I’m used to winning. I’ve been winning my whole career. When I was an amateur I was winning. I lost a few fights when I was an amateur. I’m used to winning. Losing is not what I had to do.

“Now that I reassessed things, we ready to get back into it,” he said. “I know how good I am. I know my ability. Like they said, I’ve been in with the best. But my best is yet to come. I’m continuing to learn. I’m continuing to study the game. I’m 28 years old. I’m going to continue to just get better. The fights I lost wasn’t my best performances. The fights that I lost was me not doing what I’m capable of doing and just letting the fight happen.”

The Khan loss dropped Alexander’s record to 26-3 with 14 KOs. Each of the recent defeats bother him, he said.

“I’m way more skillful than Shawn Porter and I’m just as skillful as Khan,” Alexander said. “I was able to beat both of them as long as I’m right in my mental game. That plays a lot in my losses. As long as I’m strong, I’m fast and I’m ready, nobody can beat me. The mental piece is definitely important in boxing.”

Alexander says he never stopped training and isn’t worried about ring rust. He also believes that there’s plenty to motivate him for this Martinez fight, not only because of his recent losses but also because of what a string of wins could mean for his future.

“This fight is going to open up some doors to show people that I am back and I’m still a legit, elite 147-pound champion, 147-pound contender,” he said. “I’m going to be here for years to come because boxing is looking for a new star. They’re looking for the next Mayweather, the next Roy Jones, the next Pacquiao.”

Alexander’s opponent is coming off a pair of losses himself. Martinez was stopped in five rounds against Josesito Lopez in 2014, spent 13 months away and then came back this past June for a fight with Robert Guerrero. Martinez dropped Guerrero and just barely lost a split decision, dropping the 33-year-old’s record to 19-4-1 with 4 KOs.

Their fight is the main event of a Premier Boxing Champions broadcast airing from Glendale, Arizona, on Oct. 14 on ESPN. The undercard includes a featherweight title fight between Lee Selby and Fernando Montiel.

Pick up a copy of David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsamazon or internationally at http://bit.ly/fightingwordsworldwide. Send questions/comments via email at fightingwords1@gmail.com