This past Saturday Devon Alexander beat Andreas Kotelnik in front of his hometown fans in St. Louis. Leading to the fight Alexander's face was everywhere from local television to a full page article in the New York Times. That is huge for a 23 year old from the streets of St. Louis. The lights were shining bright for Alexander, he was getting star treatment with promises of a lot more to come if he wins. Another HBO date in January against Timothy Bradley to further clean up the hottest division in boxing, the Junior Welterweight division. All Alexander has to do is win. Easier said than done. With all the pressure on many were forgetting he had to fight Kotelnik. Kotelnik is relatively unknown, so he couldn't be an issue right, wrong. Kotelnik came to fight and he came to win. Fighting for the first time in the United States Kotelnik gave Alexander all he can handle. Alexander came out with a Unanimous Decision but he it came at a price. Alexander was cut, said his leg cramped up and appeared very tired. Was Alexander exposed in this fight? Could his next fight, likely against Bradley be the Felix Trinidad-Fernando Vargas fight? You remember a young lion in Vargas had showed so much heart and was hyped to be the next great thing and then ran into the experienced champion Trinidad. Bradley is not the hard puncher that Trinidad was but he is fast and accurate. After watching a slower fighter in Kotelnik constantly connect on Alexander, one has to wonder if he was exposed. Fernando Vargas had other big fights after his loss to Trinidad, but he was a shot fighter before the age of 30. Was Devon Alexander exposed or was it just a bad night with too much attention on a young fighter? Was it too much hype too soon? Guess in time we will find out.
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