Last night the boxing world witnessed yet another upset this year when underdog Aron “El Asesino” Martinez (20-4-1, 4 KO’s) took the fight to and beat heavy favorite Devon Alexander “The Great” (26-4, 14 KO’s) via unanimous decision on ESPN.
At the beginning of the fight, Alexander seemed to take control of the earlier rounds but Martinez was able to keep up with the former world champion. After a few rounds, Martinez was able to find a rhythm and take the fight to Alexander. Alexander was able to turn Martinez and land some good shots, but it didn’t seem to effect Martinez who in turn kept pushing forward. By the later rounds, Martinez had the same mentality since the opening bell while Alexander was emotionally/mentally unstable which worked out in Martinez favor.
So where do the fighters go from here?
Martinez was expected to lose despite his tremendous performance against Robert Guerrero earlier this year after an almost year and a half layoff. He has experience, but just a glance of his record, and you would not expect much from him. Against Guerrero, he proved that he is not a pushover and with the win over Alexander he cemented the fact that he is there not just to fight, but to win. So what’s next for “El Asesino?” A rematch with Guerrero is the first thing that comes to mind just to clear the loss of the record and doubt of anyone that saw Guerrero as the victor the first time around. Should a Guerrero fight not happen there are plenty of other names such as Berto, Collazo, Khan or even rematches with Jessie Vargas or Josesito Lopez.
What about Alexander? Prior to the bout with Martinez he had stated that he needed a win and needed to do it in such a fashion that boxing fans would want to see him in action again. He had gone 3-2 within his last five fights before facing Martinez, so a tremendous win was much needed especially after the lopsided loss to Amir Khan almost a year ago. Alexander seemed sloppy in the fight with Martinez and despite his corner’s advice was unable to keep his head in the fight. Alexander needs to take a moment (but not too long) and reevaluate everything, make some decisions and some changes and push forward. He is still a top twenty fighter in the U.S., and his name is more than enough to get him a fight that could put him right where he wants to be. His options are wide open for whomever he faces next, but the key thing that needs to be done is to stay active.
