CARSON, Calif. – The battle between two-time Olympian Gabriel Maestre and former two-division champion Devon Alexander proved to be a fight featuring a pair of 36-year-olds whose careers are heading in different directions.

Just as the fight was heating up, it abruptly and anticlimactically ended.

Maestre scored a knockdown of Alexander in the second round, and in between rounds three and four, Alexander told referee Gerard White in his corner that he was unable to continue, and Maestre was awarded a technical knockout victory. 

The fight opened with the southpaw Alexander (27-8-1, 14 KOs) leaning on his timing to pick and pop his shots, while the right-handed Maestre (5-0-1, 4 KOs) looked to counter. 

The second round featured both fighters trading shoe-shine body combinations, but it was a left hook from Maestre that dropped Alexander with 15 seconds remaining. Alexander was somewhat squatting as he attempted to duck Maestre’s punches when Maestre landed his thudding left. Alexander comfortably got back up before the round ended.  

Maestre continued to overwhelm Alexander in the third, and by the end of the round, Alexander was unfit to continue for an undisclosed reason. 

Alexander appeared competitive for the 10-round scheduled fight until he wasn’t. 

Alexander came in overweight (152 pounds) Friday for the fight and was fined for the offense. 

Alexander was fighting for the first time after a near-two year layoff looking to land his first win since Nov. 2017 and a span of four fights. The former unified 140-pound champion and 147-pound titlist is now 2-7-1 since 2013. 

During his heyday, Alexander beat the likes of Lucas Matthysse in 2011 and Marcos Maidana in 2012. He also lost to a group that included Timothy Bradley Jr., Shawn Porter, Amir Khan, Andre Berto, and Ivan Redkach.

The 2012 and 2016 Olympian Maestre landed the most notable win of his three-year career.

Maestre’s dossier was dubiously marked with a win over Mykal Fox in 2021. The Venezuelan was awarded a unanimous decision win in a fight nearly all observers believed he lost. 

Maestre won a vacant WBA interim title in the process. In the ensuing weeks and months, the debacle unraveled even further, as the WBA ordered an immediate rematch, then declared the interim title to be vacant, and suspended judge Gloria Martinez-Rizzo, who was discovered to have a previous pattern of racist behavior. 

Maestre followed the fight with Fox with a split draw against Taras Shelestyuk in March 2022. 

Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist, writer, and broadcast reporter. He’s also a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America and the MMA Journalists Association. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan, through email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com, or via www.ManoukAkopyan.com.