Steve Kim of MaxBoxing reports today that he's been told by Kevin Cunningham that tonight's HBO Boxing After Dark main event between Devon Alexander and Lucas Matthysse is 10 rounds, not 12:
Guys, regarding Alexander-Matty, Kevin Cunningham texted me last week that this fight was a 10-rd'er, when I asked him. #boxing
So maybe he's incorrect or didn't know, but that's what I was told by Devon's own trainer/manager. Dont kill the messenger!! #boxing
As far as I know, the fight is a WBO eliminator at 140 pounds, and eliminators are almost always 12 rounds. We're also talking about a big-time TV main event here.
If the fight is 10 rounds, the deck is really stacked against Lucas Matthysse. There's already concern that having the fight in Missouri could lead to bias against Matthysse from the judges, which many felt was seen last year with Alexander vs Andriy Kotelnik, and now if Matthysse has two less rounds to do his business, that could be a huge factor. And if it is 10 rounds, a lot of criticism is going to fall on Don King and Team Alexander. The fight should be 12 rounds if it's an eliminator, and makes them appear to lack confidence in Alexander's ability to go 12 with Matthysse.
We'll see tonight, but this is already a minor controversy.