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Photos: Andre Berto Edges Alexander, Peter Quillin Beats Love

Published Sun Aug 5, 2018, 3:34 PM

Former world champion Andre Berto (32-5, 24 KOs) won a back-and-forth fight by split decision Saturday night against fellow former champion Devon Alexander (27-4-1, 14 KOs) in the main event of Premier Boxing Champions on FOX & FOX Deportes from NYCB LIVE, home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

Alexander struck first as his southpaw stance appeared to give Berto trouble early. Alexander connected with a series of powerful right hooks in round two before following up in round three with a straight right that landed on Berto and allowed Alexander to score a knockdown with follow-up hooks.

The bout saw numerous clashes and tie ups, but as the rounds went on Berto's relentlessness allowed him to score against a tiring Alexander. Berto had success in the seventh round tagging Alexander on the inside as he began to break through his opponent's defense.

The back-and-forth fight concluded with both fighters slugging it out until the final bell and appearing to have worn each other down from the 12-round bout. The scores reflected the close nature of the bout as once judge scored it 114-113 for Alexander, but was overruled by two judges scoring the bout 115-112 for Berto.

The co-main event on FOX and FOX Deportes saw former middleweight world champion Peter "Kid Chocolate" Quillin (34-1-1, 23 KOs) earn a unanimous decision victory over J'Leon Love (24-2-1, 13 KOs) after 10 rounds of super middleweight action.

Quillin's power and punch output proved to be the difference as he focused on getting into range of Love while delivering power punches to back Love up. With his promoter, all-time great Floyd Mayweather, sitting ringside, Love focused on a strategy that saw him move throughout the 10 rounds while trying to build his offense off of his jab.

Round eight began with Quillin on the offensive as he pinned Love in the corner and unloaded a massive series of shots, many of which landed flush. Love was able to avoid any serious danger from the onslaught, but was never able to land anything that bothered Quillin over the remaining moments of the fight.

The judges scored the bout 99-91 and 98-92 twice, all in favor of Quillin.