Eleider Alvarez and Julian Williams both won their showcase fights tonight on the Stevenson-Fonfara undercard, with their bouts televised on Showtime Extreme from Montreal's Bell Centre.
Alvarez improved to 15-0 (8 KO) with a convincing if dull decision win over Alexander Johnson (15-2, 6 KO) in the first televised bout of the night. The 30-year-old Colombian, now based in Montreal, has drastically changed since the early fights of his pro career, which was pointed out by the Showtime commentators. At this point, Alvarez is certainly a solid, advanced prospect, and has some clear skill, but he's not an exciting fighter by any means.
Alvarez did drop Johnson in the fifth round, hurting him on a big shot, after which Johnson turned his back and took a knee. For the most part, the fight's place was quite slow, and that favored Alvarez, who was able to consistently land the more eye-catching shots.
Williams (16-0-1, 10 KO) was more exciting in his win, an eighth round knockout of tough gatekeeper Michael Medina (26-5-2, 19 KO) that saw the Philly fighter jump on his opponent early and often, throwing big shots the entire night, and landing pretty consistently. In the eighth, he decked Medina, who was down for the count. Williams, 24, is a good-looking junior middleweight prospect whose stock improved with tonight's win.