Devon Alexander vs. Junior Witter: Round By Round

Showtime Championship Boxing is live from California with a pair of 140-pound title fights. Timothy Bradley and Nate Campbell will do battle in the main event, but first up is undefeated Devon Alexander taking on Junior Witter.

Gus Johnson and Al Bernstein are on hand to preview the main event and discuss the sad murder of Vernon Forrest. There's a nice piece on Forrest's work outside the ring and a moment of silence and ringing of the bell for The Viper.

Fans are definitely still showing up, but we're about ready for the co-feature. Witter comes out first, and Johnson says the 35-year old from the U.K. knows this may be one of his last big chances. He is 37-2-2, with his most recent loss coming to Bradley in May 2008.

Alexander reps his hometown with a St. Louis Cardinals hat as he enters to Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight." The 22-year old southpaw is 18-0 with 11 KOs. Cory Spinks is on hand to lend his support.

This fight is for the vacant WBC super lightweight title that Witter lost to Bradley, who subsequently had to drop it. The tale of the tape shows that the two men are almost even in height and weight, but Alexander has an edge in reach that may be a factor.

Jimmy Lennon Jr. handles the fighter introductions and we are ready to go, scheduled for 12 rounds.

Round 1

Bernstein wonders if Witter will fight orthodox or southpaw, and he comes out right-handed. He shoots a few rights to the body, as does Devon with some lefts. Both men pawing with jabs. Witter loses his balance swinging and tumbles down, and he hops up and switches stances a few times. There's some hugging as they try to work inside. Witter has his hands down as he circles. They wrestle along the ropes as the ref warns them. Ugly first round, which isn't a shock with Junior in there.

Franchise: 10-9 Witter
Spartan117: 10-9 Witter

Round 2

Left hand lead by Witter and Alexander tries the body. Devon gets another body shot and a hook in there. Witter is bleeding slightly from the mouth as he swings wildly. He switches southpaw as Alexander jabs forward. They tie up several times and the ref is busy. Both men connect and Witter's left is sharper. Junior is able to duck under a bunch of Devon's shots. Witter gets clocked by a right hook in close in the last 10 seconds.

Franchise: 10-9 Alexander
Spartan117: 10-9 Alexander

Round 3

Alexander scores with a right and the counter right smacks him back. He tries to press forward and they tie up. Almost every exchange ends up with the fighters grabbing each other. Witter tries some inside body work. He gets caught with a short right and some blood is coming from near his right eye. One-two by Alexander ends with a sharp right hook to the head. Witter is jumping in and only getting off single shots. They hold again at the bell.

Franchise: 10-9 Alexander
Spartan117: 10-9 Alexander

Round 4

Nice counter by Witter and he switches southpaw. Both fighters work the jab, but Alexander backs his man into the corner. Big uppercut misses from Witter. Left hook by Witter catches Devon. Jabs are scoring in both directions. Now Witter is orthodox again. Double left hands by Alexander, but no huge punches landed in that frame.

Franchise: 10-9 Witter
Spartan117: 10-9 Witter

Round 5

They talk to Spinks between rounds. Witter dodges some early fire and there's more wrestling. Junior switches to righty trying to set up uppercuts. Witter gets caught by a left coming in and has to hold on to Alexander to stay upright. Devon looks for the kill but Witter is crafty. He tries his own big left hand and grabs again. Good round for Devon.

Franchise: 10-9 Alexander
Spartan117: 10-9 Alexander

Round 6

Replay shows Witter got tagged while throwing one of his crazy wide punches. Devon punches out of a clinch and snaps his jab. Witter dodges a big left and ties up. Witter fires a right to the body. Left by Witter as he comes in again. Short right hand by Alexander. Several exchanges are pretty even, and Devon continues to stalk. Right by Alexander is answered, but a left catches Witter right at the bell.

Franchise: 10-9 Alexander
Spartan117: 10-9 Alexander

Round 7

Alexander throws a combo and backs away from the counter. His jab is really looking good right now. A left just misses and chases Witter back, but he comes back with a body shot. Glancing left hand from Devon as the crowd starts to get a bit restless. Left hand by Witter is answered by a jab. Alexander flurries at the end of a close round.

Franchise: 10-9 Alexander
Spartan117: 10-9 Witter

Round 8

There's a short delay for some reason to start this round. Right hook by Devon. He lands a left that crashed in on the side of Witter's head. Two right hands by Alexander lead to another warning from the ref about wrestling. The ref also lectures Witter about holding. Alexander walks into a left hand upstairs. Alexander peppers Witter with a series of quick punches in close. Body shot by Witter gets a response from Alexander.

Franchise: 10-9 Alexander
Spartan117: 10-9 Alexander

Before Round 9 can begin, Witter decides he's had enough. It's kind of surprising because he didn't look like he was taking a tremendous amount of abuse, but the fight is over. The replay from the corner makes it sound like it was Witter's corner who suggested he was done, but it's not 100 percent clear.

The winner by TKO at the end of Round 8... and new WBC super lightweight titleholder... Devon Alexander "The Great."

Jim Gray gets a few words with Alexander, who is choked up after his victory. He says his dad told him to stay humble, which helps him train hard. Devon credits his family and Don King for helping him stay on track in life and boxing.

Alexander says his team gave him multiple plans depending on what Witter was going to do. He claims he was not surprised that Witter quit. We don't hear from Junior, who has gone back to his locker room to get checked out by the doctor.

Posted by The Franchise