Former two division title holder Devon Alexander made a triumphant return from an addiction fueled two year lay off last night on PBC on FS1 against Walter Castillo. Overall he looked like the best version of himself, albeit against middling competition. Rising welterweight Miguel Cruz picked up a hard fought win on the undercard as well.
As has been reported in the build up to this fight, Devon Alexander (27-4, 14 KOs) has been battling an opiate addiction. His problems began following a great showing in a 2012 dominant win against Marcos Maidana. Falling the fight he needed surgery and the prescription painkillers he took following the procedure proved to be his downfall. As addicts do, over time Alexander reportedly took care of himself less and less and it showed in the ring as he lost three of his last four prior to the layoff.
After 25 months of healing, the St. Louis fighter returned last night against Walter Castillo (26-5, 19 KOs). His Nicaraguan opponent sure tried, but Alexander cleanly outclassed him. The second round brought a hard knockdown on an Alexander straight left. While that was the only time either fight was hurt, the recovered former addict controlled the fight like he used to at his best. Granted, Walter Castillo is not a world class opponent, but Devon showed no signs that he isn’t capable of stepping back up to that level.
At 30, there is still plenty of time for Devon Alexander to rise back up. He has always been talented enough to compete at the highest levels of the sport. The last couple of years before his layoff brought a different version of the former titleholder to the ring, however. He seemed less engaged, prepared, and athletic. Now we have an answer as to what happened there and it does make sense. Hopefully he continues healing and gets another shot. Under the PBC banner, he should.
Miguel Cruz (17-0) picked up a hard fought, very narrow decision over David Grayton (15-2-1, 11 KOs) to maintain his unbeaten record in the co-main event. Though statistically he still narrowly would have won without it, a sixth round knockdown scored by the emerging welterweight was extremely important in taking the fight at scores of 96-93 from all three judges. In my view this decision could have gone either way and I was fine with the outcome.
