By Keith Idec
Devon Alexander dominated Walter Castillo on Tuesday night in his first fight in more than two years.
The former junior welterweight and welterweight champion was quicker, sharper and smarter than Castillo, dropped his opponent in the second round and easily won a 10-round welterweight fight in St. Petersburg, Florida. Alexander won by big margins on two of the three scorecards in a fight FS1 broadcast as the main event of a “Toe-To-Toe Tuesdays” telecast from The Coliseum.
Judges Ged O’Connor and Rocky Young scored the fight 100-89 for Alexander. Judge Mike Ross had it closer, 96-93, for Alexander.
The left-handed Alexander (27-4, 14 KOs) fought for the first time since October 2015, when he lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Aron Martinez. He also lost his previous fight, another unanimous decision, to Amir Khan in a 12-rounder in December 2014.
The 30-year-old Alexander admitted in a story posted to the Premier Boxing Champions website Monday that his two-year layoff was partially due to an opioid addiction (https://www.boxingscene.com/devon-alexander-my-opioid-addiction-kept-me-out-ring--122657).
The St. Louis native looked relatively sharp considering he hadn’t fought in so long. Nicaragua’s Castillo (26-4-1, 19 KOs) looked sluggish during most of his first fight since IBF junior welterweight champion Sergey Lipinets (13-0, 10 KOs) stopped him in the seventh round of their July 2016 bout in Tunica, Mississippi.
Alexander mostly worked off his jab and used it to keep Castillo at a comfortable distance for much of their bout. Whenever Castillo, 29, tried to rough up Alexander on the inside, Alexander broke free from Castillo and unloaded punches.
Alexander looked his best in the second round, when with 23 seconds left in it, he dropped Castillo with a crisp combination – a right uppercut and straight left hand. Castillo got up and Alexander didn’t have enough time to finish him off once the action resumed.
In complete control, Alexander began opening up on Castillo in the eighth round, seemingly looking for the knockout. He didn’t seem to hurt Castillo again, though.
Castillo demonstratively demanded that Alexander engage at the start of the 10th round. Alexander obliged, but Castillo couldn’t hurt him, either.
Alexander landed several hard body blows in the 10th round and finished the fight strong.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.
