The Scorecard Treatment: Devon Alexander vs Andriy Kotelnik - Home Cooking or a Fair Verdict?

by Andrew Fruman

When Andriy Kotelnik got the call to face Devon Alexander, the match-up wasn't looked upon with too much enthusiasm.  Alexander had just made a very strong statement to rest of the junior-welterweight class with a knock-out of rock jawed slugger Juan Urango, while Kotelnik had come up well short to Amir Khan in his most recent bout.

Given the difficulties Kotelnik had against the quick handed and fleet footed British fighter, it was expected he'd face a similar struggle against Alexander.  Alexander's Too Fast - that was the theme in just about every breakdown of the match-up and predictions of a shut-out were fairly common.

Instead, we were treated to one of the more entertaining and surprising bouts of the year so far, with Kotelnik's steady pressure causing the talented youngster all kinds of trouble.  Then came the decision - 116-112 Alexander on all 3 cards - and controversy quickly followed.

Was Kotelnik hard done by or was Alexander a worthy winner?

Here's my card along with an explanation for how I scored each round...

Round 1

The opening session was a battle of jabs. Alexander was much busier, though most of his shots were picked off and in terms of punches that actually found the mark, the fighters were about even. It’s temping to give the round to the fighter that lets his hands go more for "making the fight" – but Alexander was mostly throwing from a safe distance and not really stepping in and committing, so I don’t feel he deserves credit for simply coming up short and hitting gloves.  As I've mentioned many times when doing these scorecards, I have no issues with even rounds - better than splitting hairs and guessing - so this one's going in the books as 10-10 on this card.

10-10 even

Could this have been scored another way? Sure, it was very close. You can give Alexander the round if you feel he deserves the benefit of the doubt for throwing more –or Kotelnik the round for landing as much with greater efficiency.

Round 2

As with the opening session, this was a very tight round. Kotelnik scored nicely with the jab, but the better overall work was done by Alexander. The hometown fighter landed a couple nice hooks to the body, and had his straight left working as well, especially during one sequence in the middle of the round.

Alexander 10-9

Could this have gone the other way? It was VERY close. After giving the round two more viewings, I settled on Alexander but not without a little hesitation.

20-19 Alexander after 2

Round 3

Alexander had a slight margin in this one. He was busier and appeared to land more often, though Kotelnik did come up with one especially good moment - a head snapping right hand with about 40 seconds left.

10-9 Alexander

Could this round have been scored for Kotelnik? Yes. He landed the best punch of the round, and a couple other solid shots as well – that one could argue were better than anything Alexander landed over the 3 minutes. It also depends on whether or not you feel some of Alexander’s lefts really got through… or were blocked. It’s tough to tell at times, and the option isn’t there to view another angle.

30-28 Alexander through 3

Round 4

Alexander touched Kotelnik up fairly steadily for the majority of the round, getting his jab home a bit, along with a couple hooks to the body and some straight lefts. Kotelnik came on strong over the final 30-40 seconds, landing a few nice shots that included a good uppercut – but it wasn’t enough to override the work Alexander had done earlier.

10-9 Alexander

Could this round have gone the other way? Though he was outworked, Kotelnik arguably landed the best punches of the round once more and if you also feel Alexander’s shots weren’t all that effective… 10-9 the other way is not out of the question, though a bit of a stretch.

Thoughts through 4 rounds:

This card has Alexander up by a 40-37 score.  All four rounds were difficult to score, with the busy Alexander just managing to do enough to stay ahead of the more efficient Kotelnik.  It would be nice to have the option of giving half point rounds when the difference is as slight as it was in the 2nd and 3rd frames.  Half points rounds would serve to keep the score more in line with the action as a whole, as Alexander's 3 point leads feel a little too wide considering how close the 12 minutes have been.

Round 5

Other than a spurt of about 20 seconds during the session’s final minute, the better work belonged almost entirely to Kotelnik. He pushed the pace of the round while landing a number of effective blows, all the while managing to avoid Alexander’s return fire.

10-9 Kotelnik

Could the round have gone the other way? Alexander did have that one good little stretch where he came to life and took the fight to Kotelnik, but that wasn’t enough to make a strong case. Kotelnik pressed the action, landed the better shots and his margin was clear. He also finished strongly over the final 10-15 seconds making sure there could be no arguments.

49-47 Alexander after 5

Round 6

Looking more and more comfortable, Kotelnik controlled the action from start to finish. He won the medium to long range battle with his jab and right hand, while outfighting Alexander during the moments when the action was at close quarters. Alexander did fire back, but he’s starting to look a little ragged in there and shots that earlier may have split the guard and now almost always being caught on the gloves.

10-9 Kotelnik

Could the round have gone to Alexander? No. This was easily the most one-sided round we’ve had so far.

58-57 Alexander at the half-way point

Round 7

This was another tough round to score. After falling behind over the opening minute, Alexander picked things up by standing his ground more and letting go with straight lefts – and the question is whether enough of those left hands managed to get through. From this scorer’s perspective – and it took a couple extra viewings – not enough found the mark.

10-9 Kotelnik

Could this round have been scored for Alexander? To quote what Bob Papa said at the end of the round, "Do you like the busier guy or the more accurate guy, if you like the busier guy you like Alexander, more accurate – you like Kotelnik." Alexander threw a lot of punches… did enough get through to win the round? It’s debatable.

All square at 67-67 with 5 to go

Round 8

This was perhaps the best round of the fight so far, and yet another very difficult one to score. Kotelnik had a clear edge over the first half, but Alexander really picked it up over the final 90 seconds, landing a number of straight lefts. It was looking for a second like he’d done enough to pull in front, only for Kotelnik to close strongly over the final 10 seconds.

A couple extra viewings of the action were needed. It’s easy to see Kotelnik’s shots find the mark – but it’s a trickier proposition to determine how many of Alexander’s punches split – or go around – Kotelnik’s tight high guard. But after watching the round over… and over, I decided Alexander had broken through with enough to earn the round.

10-9 Alexander

Could this round have gone the other way? Yes, not much separated these two at all.

Thoughts through 8 rounds:

Alexander's still hanging onto the lead - 77-76 - but he's clearly struggling to cope with what Kotelnik's bringing.

Overall it's been a really tough fight to score with only 2 of the 8 rounds falling into the clear-cut category.  It's very easy to see how the hometown fighter could benefit in such a situation, especially when so many of Alexander's punches are just missing the mark.  If a judge isn't sure if a jab got through or a straight left split the guard, but hears the cheers from the crowd... he very well might lean towards giving credit for the blow.

Round 9

Kotelnik had things his way in this one. He pushed forward, landed more frequently and with more authority – and has Alexander looking increasingly uncomfortable. Some of Kotelnik’s best work in this session was done at short range, as he landed a few sneaky hooks on the inside.

10-9 Kotelnik

Could this round have been scored the other way? No, although HBO’s Harold Lederman gave it to Alexander. Through 9, the HBO judge somehow has the fight scored 89-82 for Alexander.

86-86 after 9

Round 10

Another good round for Kotelnik. He’s dictating the pace and landing the more effective shots while all Alexander can do is let his hands go from a distance without much success.

Kotelnik 10-9

Could this round have been scored the other way? No, the fighter moving forward is landing the cleaner shots.

Kotelnik 96-95 with 2 to go

Round 11

Despite throwing plenty of punches throughout the fight, Alexander has only been sitting down on his shots and attacking in spurts – usually waiting until a little later in each round to do so. Perhaps sensing the fight slipping away, he chose to attack right from the outset and had a very good opening minute – however the strategy appeared to sap his energy and Kotelnik came on strong over the final two thirds of the round to edge the session on this card.

Kotelnik 10-9

Could the round have been scored for Alexander? Maybe, it was relatively close. Alexander did some strong work, especially early on – but Kotelnik’s work over the final two minutes looked like more than enough to overcome his early deficit.

Kotelnik 106-104 through 11

Round 12

After a very tight first half of the round, Kotelnik pulled away to convincingly win the final frame and complete a very impressive performance. He blocked much of Alexander’s work, while popping the jab and the right hand, while mixing in the occasional slashing shot in close. Alexander landed a few straight lefts, but as with so much of the fight since the fourth round – it was not enough to overcome the quality work put forth by Kotelnik.

Kotelnik 10-9

Could the round have been scored for Alexander? He battled until the end, but clearly didn’t do enough to warrant scoring the round in his favour.

Final Score

116-113 for Andriy Kotelnik

There were only 5 very clear rounds - and all belonged to Kotelnik.

There were 2 more rounds where I felt the margin was clear, but close enough to possibly go the other way.  Of these, one went to Kotelnik - the 11th - and the other to Alexander - the 4th.

Of the 5 very tight rounds, Alexander had a 3-1-1 edge on his card.  It took several viewings for each session, but I felt he had a slight advantage in the 2nd, 3rd and 8th rounds.  I scored the 7th for Kotelnik and had the 1st even.

Closing Thoughts...

If we give Alexander all 5 of the 50/50 type of rounds, we're left with a 114-114 card.  That's certainly not an outrageous score as one can argue that the benefit of the doubt should go to the fighter that is letting his hands go more.  However, I'm very hesitant to lean that way since much of Alexander's output was not of an aggressive sort - it was thrown from long range without much conviction, more in an effort to keep Kotelnik away, than actually do real damage.  It's hard to side with ineffective volume thrown in retreat verse the efficiency of a fighter pushing forward.

Was the decision worthy of being called a robbery?  I wouldn't go that far, but it's very difficult to argue that Alexander had the better of things, and the 116-112 scores across the board are impossible to defend.

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