Alekseev Defeats Wilson, Becomes Mandatory Challenger for IBF Belt
By: William Holmes
Due to time constraints at work and difficulty in finding a way to watch today’s card in Strada Henri Coanda, Galati, Romania, I joined in the action in Romania when Manuel Charr’s hand was being raised after defeating Yakup Saglam in the heavyweight division.
The next televised bout was between Salvomir Selicky (10-10) and Noel Gevor (5-0) in the cruiserweight division. Grevor backed up Selicky with his accurate jab and knocked him down early in the first round with a straight right hand. Selicky was able to get back to his feet but Grevor wasted little time in pouncing on Selicky with unanswered combinations forcing the referee to stop the fight. Grevo wins by TKO in the first round.
The main event of the evening was between Alexander Alekseev (23-2) and Philadelphia native Garrett Wilson (13-5) in an IBF eliminator for the cruiserweight belt. Wilson has been on a six fight win streak including wins over Andres Taylor, Chuck Mussachio, and Omar Sheika. He’s been on a surge as of late and has the power to end a fight at any moment.
However, he was overmatched tonight against the superior technical skills of Alexander Alekseev.
Alekseev came out the taller man and to the surprise of nobody used his jab to keep Wilson at Bay. Wilson started off the fight keeping a tight high guard to block the jabs of Alekseev, but Alekseev was doing a good job at controlling the distance and pace of the fight.
Wilson began to attack the body of Alekseev in the second round, but Alekseev’s height and reach advantage was visibly giving Wilson problems. Wilson slipped multiple times throughout the fight while trying to find a way past the jab of Alekseev. He slipped in the fourth , sixth, and tenth rounds. The canvas had to be wiped down in the eighth round due to the slippery surface of the advertisement logos on the canvas.
Wilson was not the only fighter to slip on the canvas, Alekseev also slipped in the 11th round.
Alekseev was the favorite in the fight but he was not overly impressive against a fighter some assumed he would stop. Wilson continued to come forward and eat the jabs of Alekseev without showing he was hurt. Wilson attempted to push the pace in the last three rounds but his punches often came up short of its intended target. Alekseev’s best punch of the night was a crisp left uppercut in the 11th round, and Wilson’s best round of the night was in the 10th round when he turned up his work rate and tried to end the fight.
Unfortunately for the Philadelphia native Alekseev was too technically skilled and out boxed his opponent while avoiding his power shots. The official scores were 118-11, 117-111, and 116-112.
Alexander Alekseev is now the mandatory challenger for Yoan Pablo Hernandez’s IBF belt.