Devon Alexander beats Juan Urango at Mohegan Sun
By Alex Pierpaoli
originally published 3/7/10 on KOFantasyBoxing.com
Devon Alexander unified the WBC & IBF 140 pound titles in beating Juan Urango by eighth round TKO at Mohegan Sun Arena. Alexander, of St. Louis, used smart, aggressive boxing to checkmate the wild-swinging, hard-charging Colombian, Juan Urango, stopping him for the first time in his 25 bout career. The Alexander-Urango fight was featured live on HBO’s Boxing After Dark to cap an eight bout card promoted by the fight game’s P.T. Barnum, Don King.
In a sport that sees fewer and fewer American stars each year, Devon Alexander stepped forward as a fighter to watch with his brilliant performance versus Urango. Alexander-Urango pitted two southpaws against each other but it was clear from the outset that Alexander’s speedy right jabs were getting to the target before Urango’s wide right hooks and plaguing the Colombian who tried repeatedly to get his offense started. Alexander, unlike other similarly-styled boxers, uses upper body movement to avboid blows rather than distance and stayed close to the danger zone and well within Urango’s punching range while using constant but incremental side-to-side movement to force the aggressive Urango to pursue him. Alexander’s skillful use of distance kept the fight exciting and competitive. Although Urango was able to connect with power shots in rounds three, five and six, he was never able to hurt or stun Alexander, despite winning as many as four rounds on one judge’s scorecard.
Urango was bleeding from the nose and an abrasion above his left eye in round two that appeared to have been caused by a snappy right hook by Alexander. The right uppercut was another power punch that Alexander had success with from the start. Landing from long range or in close, Alexander strafed Urango with the nasty uppercut which Alexander admitted later he and trainer Kevin Cunningham had worked to perfect in training camp.
Their work paid off.
Fist Things First 