Early in the eighth round, a fast right uppercut sent Urango to the canvas hard. He beat the count and smothered Alexander. Another right uppercut sent Urango sliding to the canvas. Urango got up again, but Esteves stopped the fight.
“Kevin [Cunningham, Alexander’s trainer] told me that would be the magic punch,” Alexander said.
Said Cunningham, “We spent a lot of time on that in camp, right uppercuts.”
Alexander was the faster of the two fighters, throwing 530 punches to Urango’s 375. Urango landed the more solid shots, usually right hooks to the body.
“His punches did not hurt me,” Alexander said. “I was surprised about that, but the thing is, speed kills.
“Kevin told me to stay focused, not to stand there and get hit.”
In the second round, Alexander landed an uppercut that bloddied Urango’s nose, but the bleeding was under control after the third round.
Alexander hopes to fight either WBO titlist Timothy Bradley or ex-welterweight champ Zab Judah, who split two fights with one-time-Cunningham charge Cory Spinks.
“I want to go back to St. Louis (Alexander’s hometown) and sell out the Scottrade Center,” Alexander said. “I want to fight Zab Judah, Timothy Bradley, anybody.”
Said Urango, “I’m very happy and satisfied with my performance. Devon is a great champion. He came out and he did his job and I did my job. I performed well but Devon won tonight.”
Derric Rossy retained his WBC USNBC heavyweight title with a 12-round unanimous decision against Zack Page of Warren, Ohio.
The scores were 120-107, 118-109 and 117-110. Rossy, of Medford, N.Y., dropped Page in the sixth round. Rossy is now 25-2 (14); Page is 20-28-2 (7).
Cruiserweight Ryan Coyne of St. Louis won an eight-round unanimous decision against Paul Jennette of Greensboro, N.C. The scores were 77-75 (twice) and 78-74. Coyne is now 14-0 (4) with one no-contest; Jennette is now 11-3 (8).
James Hope of Rock Hill, S.C. won a four-round unanimous decision against Andres Navarro of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico at junior welterweight. All three judges scored it 40-36. Hope is now 5-4 (4); Navarro is 4-3-1 (4).
Former cruiserweight champion Wayne Braithwaite knocked out Adam Harris of Worcester, Mass. at the end of the first round of a scheduled eight. Braithwaite dropped Harris with a body shot just before the bell and referee Richard Flaherty reached the count of ten at 2:59. Braithwaite is now 24-4 (20); Harris is 10-3 (7).
At welterweight, Angelo Santana of Miami knocked out Darien Ford of New Orleans in the fourth round of a scheduled six. Arthur Mercante reached the count of ten just as the fourth round ended. Santana is now 8-0 (5); Ford is 11-19 (4) with two no-contests.
Junior welterweights Antonio Sanchez of Toa Baja, Puerto Rico and Calvin Pritchard of Toledo, Ohio fought to a four-round draw. The scores were 39-37, Sanchez, 39-37 Pritchard and 38-38. Sanchez is now 2-0-1 (2) and Prichard is 0-1-2.
Harrison Cuello of Bronx, N.Y. won an eight-round majority decision over Steve Forbes at junior welterweight. The scores were 77-75 and 78-74 and 76-76. Cuello is now 19-12-3 (14); Forbes is 34-8 (10).
