Welterweight Lucas Santamaria bounces back into win column with defeat of Devon Alexander
In his most recent at bat, welterweight prospect Lucas Santamaria (12-2-1, 7 KO’s) picked up a solid win over Devon Alexander “The Great” (27-7-1, 14 KO’s). With the win, Santamaria has repopulated the win column after losing his last fight to Paul Kroll on October 3, 2020. The victory over the badly faded former world super lightweight champion will stand as a nice feather in Santamaria’s cap.
As for Alexander, this will be another painful setback in an especially rocky career. In fact, The Great has not felt the thrill of victory since his November 11, 2017 win over Walter Castillo. Prior to that win, Alexander’s last previous win took place on June 21, 2014 against Jesus Soto Karass. Even this bout with Santamaria came after nearly two full years of inactivity. For this fight, Alexander failed to make weight, requiring an amendment to the original contract. It is not certain what Alexander’s next move will be but he and his team should really consider hanging the gloves up.
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The bout opened with a pair of slower rounds that saw a jittery, moving Alexander coming forward applying pressure. Despite his aggression, The Great did not have a great deal of power or speed on his shots. For the better part of it, Santamaria counterpunched while amassing intel on Alexander’s movements and distance. Sadly for Team Santamaria and the audience, the young upstart never seemed to thaw out and get into the action for the first half of the bout. From behind primarily a high-guard defense, he endlessly watched his elder opponent advance and attack him.
Luckily for the Californian, Alexander had not hit another gear either. He was still plodding forward with the same speed and mid-level intensity as the first round. The Great repeatedly came in with his hands on his hips, stooped over and leading with weary jabs to the face. Santamaria countered and had good success targeting the body. Over the course of the eighth and ninth rounds, the Californian increased his output and caught Alexander flush on the chin a number of times.
For the final round, the two boxers tied up with one another frequently. Given the eyeball test, Santamaria was the fresher of the two, where Alexander seemed to want to linger in clinches longer. Ultimately the fate of the fighters was placed in the judges’ hands. When the scorecards were read, Santamaria won by a wide and comfortable margin. It will be interesting to see if the rising young welterweight tries to secure another recognizable name in his next bout.
By: Bakari Simpson
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