BoxingScene.com's Rick Reeno reports that the rumors have come to a deal, and it looks like Devon Alexander and Juan Urango will meet on March 6 to unify 140-pound titles. HBO will televise.
Alexander (19-0, 12 KO) won the vacant WBC strap against Junior Witter in August, and that same month. Urango (22-2-1, 17 KO) won his IBF title against Herman Ngoudjo in January 2009, and after a step up to 147 to challenge Andre Berto, came back down for a successful August defense against big-punching Randall Bailey.
It's a hell of a clash of styles. Urango is powerful, but not especially one-punch powerful since his speed is such a detriment. He's rugged and I've never really seen him so much as dented until he fought Bailey and was knocked down, after which he took over the fight. Ricky Hatton and Berto were able to do nothing with him, though they did beat him handily.
It'll be interesting to see if Urango can even catch Alexander, who is quick on his feet and is top five in the entire sport in hand speed, in my opinion, up there with the likes of Floyd Mayweather Jr., Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan. The kid has lightning-quick hands.
I get the early feeling that Alexander will use that speed, pop Urango from distance, and never really let Juan into the fight. Urango is a lunging, bull-rushing guy with as big a body as you can have at 140 pounds. He's a totally legit fighter, a fine titlist, and I like the matchup, but I don't like Urango's chances to win it. But that's why they fight the fights.
Don King (who promotes Alexander) mentioned a while back that he had a March date with HBO, and that Cory Spinks could be in the co-feature. There's no venue set, but King seems to have an absolute love affair going on with the Treasure Island Casino in Las Vegas, so I'm guessing he'll at least give that a long, hard look, but I won't be surprised if it just winds up in St. Louis, either.