St. Louisan Devon Alexander won the International Boxing Federation (IBF) welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Randall Bailey on Friday night in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Alexander won a comfortable decision to improve his record to 24-1. He fought a cautious fight to combat Bailey’s punching power and easily outboxed and outpointed the 38-year old veteran. Alexander’s speed and youth was too much for Bailey to keep up with. It was Alexander’s third world title as a professional.
The final total on the three scoring cards had Alexander winning 117-109, 116-110 and 115-111. It was Alexander’s second fight as a welterweight.
“He was young and he was fast. He moved a lot,” Bailey said. “He moved a lot faster than I thought. I couldn’t get set and fight my fight.”
The venue of Saturday night’s championship fight was the brand new Barclays Center in Brooklyn. It was part of a show with three other world championship bouts. It was the first world championship card held in Brooklyn since 1931.
Alexander and Bailey were originally scheduled to fight on Sept. 8, but the bout was postponed when Bailey suffered a back injury in a sparring session.
