PONTIAC, Mich. – There’s a reason it’s hard to get in the major leagues with a hitch in your swing. St. Louis’ Devon Alexander may have made it to the majors, but Saturday night he ran into a first-rate pitcher in Timothy “Desert Storm” Bradley and got struck out.
In the main event of “The Super Fight,” boxing’s debut in the Silverdome, California’s Bradley (27-0, 11 KOs) defeated Alexander (21-1, 13 KOs) by technical-decision after fewer than 10 rounds – when the fight was stopped because of an accidental head butt – and did so by scores of 97-93, 96-95 and 98-93, establishing himself as the world’s premier junior welterweight.
The 15rounds.com ringside scorecard concurred, scoring the match a lopsided 99-92 for Bradley.
While both fighters began tense and nervous in the opening rounds, Bradley loosened up, catching Alexander with one decisive right hand in each stanza, and bullying Alexander with ineffective aggressiveness. Alexander appeared overwhelmed, never finding his range or setting a successful trap.
As the fight progressed, Bradley detected the massive hitch in Alexander’s proverbial swing: Alexander cocks his every combination. Once Bradley deciphered this, he hit Alexander awkwardly and often. Alexander had begun to fade when the two fighters’ heads collided severely enough in round 10 to disrupt Alexander’s vision and cause the ringside doctor to advise a stoppage.
After the fight, Bradley graciously called Alexander a warrior, promising the St. Louis native would one day be champion again. Bradley then quixotically called-out Manny Pacquiao, a junior-middleweight titlist who would likely whup him.
VERNON PARIS VS. EMANUEL AUGUSTUS
Vernon Paris (24-0, 14 KOs), the undefeated Detroit junior welterweight the largest number of Saturday’s fans came to see, might have reviewed his opponent’s record and smirked during training camp. But Emanuel Augustus (38-34-6, 20 KOs) proved to be a humorless test for Paris, who, despite being roughed-up, frustrated and worn-down, won by unanimous-decision scores of 76-73, 77-72 and 77-72.
Augustus, a veteran of 77 fights who now calls himself “The Outlaw,” would not be run out the ring. He resorted to a large number of the tricks in his substantial bag to take the younger and faster crowd-favorite off his game. Once Augustus had Paris distracted, he began talking to him, dancing between rounds and fouling him wherever the referee couldn’t see.
The referee did see enough antics, though, to penalize Augustus two points for a fraction of the indiscretions he committed.
But whatever the final tally, Augustus proved he can still teach a young fighter, and Vernon Paris still has plenty left to learn.
UNDERCARD
The penultimate undercard match of the night saw its most-devastating knockout as Miami heavyweight Bermane “B-Ware” Stiverne (20-1-1, 19 KOs) rocked then ruined Trinidad and Tobago’s Kertson Manswell (19-1, 15 KOs), stopping him at 1:52 of the second round – with a 1-2 followed by four left hooks – to take the ‘0’ from the loss side of Manswell’s ledger.
In the evening’s sixth and dullest fight, Marcus Oliveira (21-0-1, 16 KOs), an undefeated Kansas light-heavyweight, decisioned Detroit’s Demetrius Jenkins (21-18-1, 16 KOs) by unanimous scores of 60-54.
The evening’s second-most-lopsided mismatch came in its fifth bout, as New Jersey’s Kendall “Rated R” Holt (26-4, 13 KOs) made an NC-17 mess of Florida welterweight Lenin Arroyo (20-15-1, 4 KOs), knocking him cold at 1:50 of the first round and causing the few knowledgeable fans in attendance to wonder why a prizefighter of Holt’s caliber would even be making eight-round tilts with 14-loss journeymen.
New York welterweight Allen Conyers (12-4, 9 KOs) calls himself “Dream Shatterer,” and in the fourth fight of Saturday’s Silverdome card, formerly undefeated Texan James De La Rosa (20-1, 12 KOs) learned why. Dropped thrice and made to look like a lousy Zab Judah impersonator, De La Rosa dropped the first decision of his career, losing a 10-round fight by three scores of 95-92.
Saturday’s most-lopsided mismatch came in its third bout, when Philadelphia’s Julian Williams (5-0, 4 KOs) blew directly through Indiana’s Alan Moore (2-10, 2 KOs) in 28 seconds to win a first-round technical knockout. Moore’s shaky legs at the opening bell and complete want of competitiveness raised questions of how he was even able to attain a license from the Michigan Unarmed Combat Commission.
Before that, in an entertaining eight-round super middleweight scrap, Detroit’s own “Son of a Preacher Man” Darryl Cunningham (22-2, 10 KOs) outclassed Dominican Alberto Mercedes (16-15, 10 KOs), dropping him in the final round and winning by three, unanimous-decision scores of 60-53. Despite absorbing punches and being hurt at the 1:30 mark of round 8, though, Mercedes stayed game throughout, even dissuading the onrushing Cunningham in the fight’s final minute.
Saturday’s opening fight, California welterweight Julio Diaz (38-6, 26 KOs) versus Tijuana’s Pavel Miranda (16-7-1, 8 KOs), ended in an eighth-round TKO for Diaz when a disappointing Miranda could not continue.
Doors for “The Super Fight” opened at 6:00 PM, and the opening bell rang on an empty arena at 6:15. The event’s promoters announced an attendance of 6,247.
