Toe-to-Toe Tuesday presented by PBC on Fox Sports 1 returns tomorrow night live from St. Petersburg, Florida. In the main event, former two division and unified junior welterweight titleholder Devon Alexander returns from two years away from the sport while getting clean from addiction to meet gate keeper Walter Castillo. Welterweights Miguel Cruz and David Grayton meet in a solid co-main event as well.
From 2009 through 2012, Devon Alexander (26-4, 14 KOs) was unquestionably one of the more talented fighters in the sport. He didn’t deliver on that promise ever single night he was in the ring, but when the St. Louis star was on, he was near untouchable at times. A known prospect under the then still somewhat prominent Gary Shaw banner, he won his first title in a dominant win over longtime top junior welterweight Junior Witter in 2009 on Showtime. Next he scored a highlight reel finish of tough brawler Juan Urango on HBO to unify his IBF title with the WBC belt in what was briefly a star making moment.
Yet, it seemed for a while that this night would be the peak of Devon Alexander. While he still went 2-1 in his next three fights by beating Andriy Kotelnik, losing to Timothy Bradley, and then edging Lucas Matthysse, all three of those bouts could have been and maybe should have been losses had the decisions been better. He certainly did not deserve the hometown decision that he received against Matthysse.
All did not remain dark, however. In February of 2012, Devon Alexander absolutely returned to form with a completely dominant showing over Marcos Maidana. The very same Maidana would go on to trouble the great Floyd Mayweather Jr in a two fight series, but Alexander completely routed him in a complete bell to bell outclassing. That fight was a beating.
Unfortunately, the light found that night was short lived. As has been reported in the last few months, Devon Alexander suffered a nose injury in training for Maidana. Later he needed surgery for a blood clot in the nose and was accordingly prescribed opiates for the post-surgery pain like so many are. And like so many others in this country, Alexander quietly became an addict in this process.
It didn’t impact his career immediately. Alexander first became a two division titleholder in his next win over Randall Bailey and then successfully defended that strap against an overmatched Lee Purdy, but he couldn’t maintain the high level in the sport and the addiction simultaneously. When it was time to defend against Shawn Porter, the two time titlist was overwhelmed early and often. While he rallied enough to make it more competitive by the end, he couldn’t keep his title.
After a bounceback win over Jesus Soto Karass that was more difficult than the talent gap suggests it should have been, Alexander was next soundly defeated by Amir Khan. It was as clear of an outclassing as the one that Devon had given to Marcos Maidana almost three years earlier, but in the opposite direction. The former titleholder accomplished basically nothing that night except getting tagged over and over.
The wheels fell off completely when Alexander tried to take a soft bounce back fight a year later in 2015 against unheralded Aaron Martinez. While Martinez was coming off a stronger than expected performance against a widely considered to be fading Robert Guerrero, this was supposed to be a get well mismatch. It wasn’t. After ten thoroughly uninspiring rounds, Devon Alexander was clearly defeated by a gatekeeper.
In the two years since, Alexander has reportedly battled to get clean of his addiction with success. Still only 30 years old, there is time to make another run if his body is still there at this level to allow him to. Walter Castillo (26-4-1, 19 KOs) is not a fighter all that dissimilar to Aaron Herrera in that he is a main that should easily be kept at bay by a world class fighter. Is that something Devon Alexander can be ever again? If the answer is a definitive no, I suspect we find out tomorrow night. It is up to him to show us something worth watching going forward.
The co-main event features 27 year old PBC welterweight prospect Miguel Cruz (17-0, 12 KOs) in tough against David Grayton (15-1, 11 KOs). Cruz isn’t a super prospect, but he looked pretty great last time out in avenging the controversy surrounding his first decision win over Alex Martin with a dominant showing in the rematch. Grayton is a competent pro who was once a minor prospect himself, so he represents a solid test for the rising Cruz.
The Fox Sports 1 broadcast starts nice and early at 8 PM Eastern Tuesday night. Both of Gary Russell Jr’s early stage prospect younger brothers fight deeper on the undercard, so if there is an early finish we just may get to see them as well.
