WBC King Devon Alexander Stops IBF Champ Juan Urango in Eighth Round

The nickname for Juan Urango is "Iron Twins," a testament to the Colombian-born, Cooper City, Fla., resident's two, hard fists.

A two-time world titlist, Urango's chin isn't bad either.

For in one of his two tough losses, Urango had gone the distance with England's Ricky Hatton, losing a unanimous decision in January of 2007.

In May, Urango rose to 147 pounds, where he bravely stood toe-to-toe with WBC king Andre Berto (25-0, 19 KOs), before losing a valiantly fought, albeit lopsided 12-round decision.

In his last fight before facing unbeaten, WBC junior welterweight (140 pounds) Devon Alexander on Saturday night in a match up of southpaws, Urango returned to the 140 pound class in August, where he rose from the canvas in the sixth round to stop knockout artist, Randall Bailey (40-7, 35 KOs) in the 11th round of the first defense of his current IBF crown.

But last night, at Mohegan Sun Casino, Uncasville, Connecticut, was a different story against the crafty Alexander, a 23-year-old slick-boxer, puncher whose skills belie his youth.

While controlling the fight from a safe, operating distance that kept him within range to throw punches and prevented him from absorbing much damage from his hard-punching rival, Alexander set a trap that his rival literally walked into.

Alexander dropped Urango with a counter, left uppercut 37 seconds into the eighth round, and did the same, yet again, after a second set of blows -- the most damage coming from a straight right hand to the left temple-- on the way to an eighth round knockout that improved his record to 20-0, with 13 knockouts.
In victory, Alexander added the IBF crowned previously owned by the 29-year-old Urango (22-3-1, 17 KOs) to that of his own, and improved his status within an already, star-studded, and stacked 140-pound division.

Urango was up at seven after the first knockdown, and, eight after the second, but referee Benjy Estevez had seen enough, and, staring into Urango's eyes, waved an end to the bout at the 1:12 mark.

"First of all, I want to thank God, first of all. He gave me this victory," said Alexander, who ran to one turnbuckle, jumped on it, and raised a fist to the crowd, before running to another side of the ring and doing the same thing. "I want to thank my mom right here. She's the most amazing woman in the world."

Alexander was among 13 children born to Sharon Alexander in an embattled section of St. Louis, Mo., called Hyde Park. She reluctantly allowed her son to begin boxing for his current trainer and former local police officer, Kevin Cunningham, at the age of seven.

Asked how she felt about his boxing now, she replied, "Still scared."

"Kevin [Cunningham,] this is my man. I can't say too much about him," said Alexander. "He's an angel in heaven. He's the one that got me this opportunity."

Alexander showed a crisp, right jab immediately in the first round, circling to his right, and nailing Urango with it so hard that it could be heard making contact with the IBF titlist's face and body.

Urango was relegated to leaping in, missing, and being countered -- first by Alexander's right hand, which was set up with double right hooks, and was followed up left hands right behind.

Urango's best punch of the first round was a right hook late, but when he tried it, yet again, the elusive Alexander made sure that it was far off the mark.

"[Cunningham] told me to stay focused, because I saw a little blood. And when I see blood, that's when I want to go out and take them out," said Alexander. "But he told me to stay focused, stick to the game plan, and I'd have his IBF belt, and I did."

Told by his corner to go after Alexander's body in the second round, Urango came out doing just that, firing about three hard, shots at the outset to get the WBC champ's attention.

But once Alexander adjusted, there was more of his circling, spinning Urango, and firing accurate punches. Alexander
more or less tatooed his rival from an operational distance that allowed him to remain within range to do damage.

When Urango went the body, once more in the second round, Alexander was poised to block his blows -- tucking his elbows in on each side, and his gloves at either cheek to guard against Urango's punches rising to his head.

Alexander sat down on some early blows in the third, ripping home a hybrid right hook-uppercut that seemed to produce a cut on Urango's left eye as he nailed Alexander with another, pounding right hook.

Urango fired another hook -- this one a looping left hand that was taken well by Alexander, who answered with his own, right uppercut, and then, stepped in with a left-right combination.

Alexander was clipped by two more swift, right hooks from the bobbing and weaving Urango late in the third, but he yet again, regained focus, moving and landing.

Alexander had Urango bleeding from the nose entering the fourth, where Alexander was back to bouncing the jab off of his face, and following up with lefts and rights -- hooks, straights, leads and uppercuts from both hands.

In addition, Alexander's hands were held high, enabling him to effectively block his rivals' looping blows that were landing earlier.

Alexander's counter, left-cross shook Urango with about a minute left in the fourth, and had him bleeding both from the
nostrils and his left eye between rounds.

"When he started touching me, I agree, but my coach told me 'Don't stand right there. That wasn't the game plan for me to stand right in front of him," said Alexander. "He could only hit me if he planted his feet. But as long as I'm moving, so that's what I did. And I came out victorious."

Alexander controlled the fifth as well, even as he took a right hook, followed by a looping right from Urango with about a minute and 25 seconds left in the round.

But Alexander, whose nickname is, "The Great," regained the momentum by stepping in with two, crisp, straight right hands and getting out of harms way afterward.

Over the last 20 seconds of the fifth, Alexander out-gunned Urango by about 15-to-two in punches, blocking a series of attempted vollies to the body by his rival along the way.

"You can't get lackadaisical in there now, alright, because things are going your way. Don't get lackadaisical. Because what he's trying to do is slowly, but surely, touch you here, touch you there, alright. We ain't having that," Alexander was told between rounds by Cunningham, who referried to Alexander's protecting from Urango's hooks to the head and body.

"Keep him in check with your jabs, alright? Give him feints, alright? Drop your combinations, get down around the corner, and touch him again, alright?" said Cunningham. "Slide around him and step around him. All that you have to do is touch him, and slide around him and step around him and touch him again, alright? And stay focused."

Alexander executed Cunningham's plan beautifully over the first nearly minute and 15 seconds of the sixth, as Urango was swatted by Alexander while himself, swatting at air.

When Urango did go to the body, Alexander stood his ground and blocked the punches, coming back with his own, counter left hand, right jab and right hooks, and stepping in with more potency.

Urango was able to get to Alexander with a chopping left, and the second of a double right hook with about a minute and 14 seconds remaining in the sixth round.

"His punches were not hurting me. His punches did not hurt at all. I was surprised about that because everybody was saying that he hits hard, and he's the hardest puncher at 140. But no," said Alexander.

"I started using my speed. Speed kills anything. I know that he's a brawler, and he's going to come to fight," said Alexander. "And I knew that he was going to keep coming. So I decided to use speed, and that's what I did."

Alexander was back to controlling the latter portion of the sixth round, but Urango did surge over the final 20 seconds or so, even as he took more blows than he was able to deliver.

"Don't get caught up in exchanges with this dude, man," Cunningham reminded Alexander between rounds. "You're boxing too good."

Again, Alexander heeded Cunningham's words, firing a succession of uncontested jabs over the first 30 seconds of the seventh round.

Urango's right hook to the chin with about a minute and 30 seconds left was met by an even more meaningful, right to the head, followed by a left cross from Alexander.

But Urango began to step up the pressure, firing with both hands, and, beginning to land over Alexander's slightly low hands.

Sensing an advantage, Urango began to walk forward and unleash to the head and body, even as Alexander peppered him with counters.

But that may have been what led to Urango's demise.

"You are a man, do you understand that? He is not. He is not, do you understand me? This is a fight, this is a fight, do you understand that? He's never been in a fight like this. He's never been," said Urango's corner man, Pete Fernandez.

"You've got to pressure him, champ. You've got to throw thos punches, look for his body," said Fernandez. "Dig in, don't stop. He's going down."

But as it turned out, it was Urango who would taste the canvas in defeat.

At about 37 seconds into the round, the forward-moving Urango was in mid-swing with a right hook, under which Alexander fired a right uppercut.

Alexander's blow lifted the IBF champion up and brieftly off of his feet, depositing him directly onto his back, where Urango rocked back like a capsized turtle for an instant.

Urango lay there for a moment, dazed and pawing at his two, bleeding nostrils with his left hand, but was up and bouncing on his toes before Esteves had reached the count of seven,

But Alexander stood there and nailed him with about eight, consecutive punches. The seventh punch -- a straight right hand, followed by a left -- caused Urango to pitch forward as he tried unsuccessfully to clutch Alexander's body as a means of holding himself up.

This time, even though Urango was up at the count of eight, Estevez had seen enough.

"Oh, man, that's the punch [right uppercut] that we had been working on all camp, baby," said Alexander. "That's just the left hand and the uppercut. We knew that he would be wide open for it, I'm telling you now."

Alexander is tentatively slated to face South Africa's 30-year-old Kaiser Mabuza (23-6-3, 14 KOs), who scored this past weekend's sixth-round knockout over Kendall Holt (25-4, 13 KOs) in an IBF eliminator bout.

But Cunningham told FanHouse last week that he would like to match Alexander with 32-year-old, southpaw former world champion, Zab Judah, a former junior welterweight and welterweight world champion who recently ended a nearly 12-month layoff.

Judah (38-6, 26 KOs) recently scored a second-round knockout of Mexican-born, 33-year-old Ubaldo Hernandez of Fort Myers, Fla., in the second round.

Judah has won four of his past five fights since June of 2007, when he was knocked out in the 11th round by Miguel Cotto.

A gifted left-hander, Judah also earned November's 10-round, unanimous decision victory over Earnest Johnson, which helped him to bounce back from an August, 2008 ninth-round knockout loss to Joshua Clottey.

Judah earned his first world championship in February of 2002, when he stopped Jan Piet Bergman in four rounds to win the vacant IBF junior welterweight (140) title.

Judah defended that crown five times before being dethroned by Kostya Tszyu in November of 2001 -- the first loss of his career.

Judah rebounded with three straight wins at 140 pounds before rising to 147, where he lost a 12-round, unanimous decision to Cory Spinks, who happens to be an idol of Alexander's.

That clash of southpaw fighters occurred during April, 2004, as Judah was unsuccessful in his bid to earn Spinks' WBA, WBC and IBF welterweight belts.

But Judah's ensuing, four-straight victories included a February, 2005 rematch with Spinks, whom he dethroned with a ninth-round knockout in the latter's hometown of St. Louis.

Judah then lost three of his next four 147-pound bouts, respectively, to Carlos Baldomir, Floyd Mayweather, and, Cotto.

"I just wanted to congratulate Devon Alexander on his win tonight, he looked good tonight," said Judah, jumping into the ring after the fight. "But we know who holds the title in [St. Louis.]"

Cunningham said that he would like to bring Judah back to the Savvis Center, where he defeated Spinks.

"St. Louis, I know you're supporting me, and we're going to come back the next fight. And we're going to put 23,000 into the stadium -- whoever," said Alexander. "Zab is past tense, I'm present tense, and it's going to be that way for 10 years straight."

Alexander also remains afloat in a crowded division that also includes England's WBA king Amir Khan (22-1, 16 KOs), and California's WBO titlist Tim Bradley (25-0, 11 KOs).

A 23-year-old, former Olympic silver medalist, Khan is scheduled to defend his belt against New York's 29-year-old Paulie Malignaggi (27-3, five KOs), on May 15 at The WaMu Theatre in New York's Madison Square Garden.

Bradley's promoter, Gary Shaw, expects to have an opponent named sometime this week.

Also in action on March 27 will be 26-year-old, Argentinian WBA interim champion, Marcos Rene Maidana (27-1, 26 KOs), defending his belt aginst 25-year-old Victor Cayo (24-0, 16 KOs), of the Dominican Republic.

In addition, the Khan-Malignaggi undercard will feature 23-year-old southpaw, 140-pound contender Victor Ortiz (26-2-1, 21 KOs), against 37-year-old former world champ, Nate Campbell (33-5-1, 25 KOs).

The already deep junior welterweight class is also being invaded by 28-year-old, WBC lightweight (135 pounds) champion, Edwin Valero (27-0, 27 KOs), of Venezuela, who, in June or July, is expected to face once-beaten, 26-year-old Lamont Peterson (27-1, 13 KOs) of Washington, D.C.

"This was the hardest person at 140, and I can beat anybody. I said if I can beat [Urango,] the I can beat anybody," said Alexander. "Zab, Timothy Bradley, whoever can come and get it."