HBO: Boxing After Dark 8/7/10 Recap

HBO delivered the goods from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis on Saturday evening, even if one half of the goods wasn't they guy they were expecting.

Two hard luck grinders lost decisions on the televised portion of the card, both by identical scores in fights that seemed to be closer than the cards indicated.

Opening the broadcast was a fun scrap between IBF light heavyweight titlist Tavoris Cloud and challenger Glen "The Road Warrior" Johnson. Coming into the bout, pundits had agreed that Johnson's best days were behind him and that Cloud's youth and activity would prove a hurdle for the veteran, but there lurked a suspicion that Johnson's will alone would offer a stern test to the young belt holder.

The undefeated Cloud greeted Johnson with a loud growl during the pre-fight instructions in the middle of the ring, at which Johnson would only smile.

Both fighters began the first round with busy jabs and a high pace. A busy pace turned into a bit of a skirmish by the middle of the round, with both guys trading, but not without skill. Cloud appeared to win most of the round on activity and clean body punching.

Johnson's trainer Orlando Cuellar called for jabs and body work from his fighter, perhaps to give Cloud a dose of his own medicine.

Both stuck to mostly 1-2's in the opening minute of the second round, before Cloud again began digging to the body and breaking through Johnson's high guard with thudding shots. Johnson wouldn't be outdone though, landing a variety of punches that made Cloud clinch. A hard right hand from Johnson sent Cloud to the ropes in the last minute, then a sharp right hand from Cloud seemed to stun Johnson at the end of the round.

Harold Lederman started out the third round by exclaiming "What a goddamned fight this is!" The fighters took turns leading and playing defense for about half of the round, followed by a brief attack by Johnson, who also closed the round out strong.

Johnson settled into a jabbing rhythm in the fourth round, smothering Cloud on the inside when the fight managed to get there. Cloud pounded his chest, but failed to get much work done in the first half of the round. Cloud came back to probably win the round with a number of hard counter right hands in the last minute, one of which rocked Johnson back on his heels.

Tavoris Cloud's corner went to work on a mouse under his left eye, the result of what was ruled an accidental headbutt.

The ebb and flow continued in the fifth, Cloud jabbing and winning the range battle, then Johnson stepping forward behind combinations and grinding away inside. Cloud landed the left hook well in the second minute of the round, then clearly wobbled Johnson with another hook, attacking and sending Johnson back to his corner on unsteady legs.

Cloud found a home for his looping right hand around Johnson's high guard in the sixth, banging away with hooks up and downstairs. Johnson answered back with a 30-second salvo, pushing Cloud back with hard shots. Johnson controlled the later part of the round with a hard jab, seeming to even out the score 3-3 in rounds halfway through the fight.

HBO's "Punch Zone" punch stats showed Glen Johnson doing well to Cloud's body, while much of Cloud's work was focused on Johnson's head.

Cloud elected to jab from a distance and land occasional straight rights to the body in the first minute of round seven, and Johnson jabbed back through the second. Johnson closed the distance a bit in the last minute, but let Cloud return fire at the end of the round.

Johnson seemed intent on outworking Cloud early in the eighth, until he walked into a big right hand from Cloud, who seized the opportunity to tee off on the older fighter. Johnson again refused to relent and battled back, moving the fight inside. Cloud landed more big shots at the end of the round, with Johnson looked tired after the bell.

The champion appeared to resume control early in the ninth, but shut down his offense and let Johnson go to work with shots that didn't seem to have much power on them, but counted as work.

Johnson went right back to work in the tenth, but Cloud picked up his pace and began landing heavy shots, backing Johnson up. The lack of steam on Johnson's punches may have lost him the round, though he managed to open up a cut over the already-swelled left eye of Cloud.

Again Cloud seemed to land the quality to Johnson's quantity in the eleventh round, forcing Johnson to fall forward and clinch. Cuellar and the rest of Johnson's corner implored him to dig deep and do more work towards the end of the round, but the man who knocked Roy Jones cold in 2004 simply couldn't muster up the punching power to affect Cloud.

Johnson came forward behind a good jab in the final round, looking to land a big right hand. Cloud's activity again dipped, though he was able to once more land harder and crisper shots, and seemed to buzz Johnson enough to make him hold at the end of the round.

All three judges scored the back-and-forth contest 116-112 for Tavoris Cloud, who retained his IBF belt, and may have earned the right to face the winner of next week's bout between light heavyweight emperor "Bad" Chad Dawson and talented former super middleweight Jean Pascal.

Cloud, who moved to 21-0 (18) with the win, praised his opponent in what wound up being a kind of two-way interview with HBO's Max Kellerman. Johnson, falling to 50-14-2 (34), argued that he won more rounds and deserved the decision, despite admittedly being hurt by Cloud early in the fight.

St. Louis-native, and unified light welterweight champion, Devon Alexander faced off against the seemingly average and solid Ukrainian contender Andriy Kotelnik.

The popular up-and-comer Alexander had found his name in boxing news a lot recently, namely for his calling out of fellow 140-lb. champ Timothy Bradley. Coming off a year-long layoff following a loss to WBA title-holder Amir Khan, Kotelnik was not expected to be able to deal with Alexander's talent in this matchup.

The 2000 Olympic silver medalist Kotelnik found success with a stiff jab early in the first round, even though Alexander was far busier. Kotelnik was able to pick off the majority of Alexander's pawing jabs and quick straight lefts throughout the round, landing a counter jab consistently. Alexander broke through with a few long lefts to the body later in the round, but had trouble landing flush punches.

Alexander stuck with a high output in the second round, but still found it difficult to land clean. Kotelnik landed a hard counter right hand over Alexander's lazy jab not long into the round, Alexander responded with more punches that were mostly blocked. Kotelnik landed a good left hook to Alexander's ear shortly thereafter, and Alexander responded by splitting Andriy's guard with a straight left. Kotelnik was able to block and jab effectively in the last minute, while Alexander's pace remained high.

Kotelnik showed impeccable timing early in the third, dodging most of Alexander's shots and interrupting his rhythm with a stiff lead right hand. Alexander again found it difficult to break through the guard of Kotelnik, but outworked him until later in the round when Kotelnik again found a home for his right hand as Alexander would stand still with a lazy guard.

Punch stats through 3 rounds saw punches landed as being almost even, while Alexander was throwing significantly more shots. HBO unofficial scorer Harold Lederman felt Alexander was winning the fight clearly, scoring the first 3 rounds for the young champion.

Round four was a "rinse and repeat" round, with Devon Alexander being clearly busier, but Kotelnik landing more consistently with what appeared to be the harder punches. Alexander also was cut over the right eye by what was later ruled as an accidental clash of heads.

Kotelnik followed a bit much in the early goings of round five, as Alexander was able to land decently to the body from a safe distance. Kotelnik still got work done with about a minute left in the round, using a good right hook and sweeping left to catch Alexander on his way out.

Round six began much more aggressively for Kotelnik, as he strafed Alexander with right hands to the body and cheek, following up with some hooks for good measure. Alexander did his best to slide away and keep Kotelnik off with shoeshine-like combinations, but took the harder shots throughout the round.

HBO's Punch Zone stats showed Alexander landing with more variety on Kotelnik, and Kotelnik outlanding Alexander to the head by a wide margin halfway through the fight.

Harold Lederman apparently disagreed that Kotelnik was landing consistently harder and at a more accurate rate, as he had scored the bout 5-1 for Alexander.

History kept on repeating itself in the seventh round. Devon Alexander continued to throw a lot of punches while landing few, and Kotelnik continued to time Alexander with jabs and right hands that rocked back the head of the undefeated young man. A;exander's handspeed and overall athleticism was clear, but he simply was not finding a consistent range to land clean punches.

Alexander was able to find sustained success in the middle of the eighth round, landing through Kotelnik's guard. Kotelnik responded in kind moments later with a hard right hand and left hook, and Alexander then answered with another flurry. Kotelnik finished the round strong with a right hand that appeared to buzz Alexander and caused him to hold at the end of the round.

Deja vu in round nine, with Kotelnik landing hard counter rights and left hooks that stopped Alexander in his tracks more than once in the round. Alexander's workrate is impressive, but his range is totally off and Kotelnik's defense is very effective against a guy not looking to land quality punches.

Alexander's trainer Kevin Cunningham showed concern for his fighter following the round, asking him not to engage much. On the contrary, Harold Lederman had only given Kotelnik one round in nine.

Kotelnik again snapped back Alexander's head with cleaner shots in between Alexander's many shots, mostly missed. Punch stats backed up claims of Kotelnik's dominance in the tenth round, outlanding his opponent by almost 2 to 1.

The champ Alexander dug deep to really let his hands go in the eleventh round, but got slammed with a number of right hands as he pulled back and left hooks inside. Alexander closed strong however, and managed to sink a few long left hands before the bell.

Despite fighting a spirited round, Alexander got beaten back by Kotelnik's punishing right hands through most of round twelve. He never stopped trying though, and finished the fight with hands raised.

In a bizarre occurrence, as mentioned before, all three judges scored the bout 116-112 for Devon Alexander, who climbed to 21-0 (13). Kotelnik, losing another questionable decision, fell to 31-4-1 (13) in a fight where he outlanded Alexander, and at a significantly higher percentage.

HBO judge Harold Lederman scored the bout even wider, giving Kotelnik only three rounds and very little credit.

In pertinent off-TV action, Cornelius "K9" Bundrage stopped St. Louis native Cory "The Next Generation" Spinks at 1:28 of the fifth round to claim the IBF light middleweight title.