Bailey vs Alexander: Fight Moving to San Antonio, No Date Change

Update (Aug. 1, 3:15 p.m. EDT): Showtime tells me that the fight will not be moving to September 22, and will remain on September 8. That's kind of a bummer for most of us who would have preferred having this fight and Ward-Dawson on separate nights, but it's not actually a change so much as a non-change. So go back to feeling exactly like you did before. The fight is apparently headed to San Antonio, however.

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It t appears as though the scheduled September 8 fight between Randall Bailey and Devon Alexander, to take place in Memphis, will soon be the scheduled September 22 fight between Randall Bailey and Devon Alexander, to take place in San Antonio.

Jake Donovan of BoxingScene.com reports that a "strange turn of events" has moved the fight to San Antonio, but that the venue there is booked for September 8, and thus the new date.

Boxing fans will be relieved to not have to choose their fight on September 8. Andre Ward vs Chad Dawson headlines on HBO that evening from Oakland, with a potential barnburner co-feature between Antonio DeMarco and John Molina.

Lou DiBella, who promotes Bailey as well as co-feature fighter Ajose Oluegun (who will face Lucas Matthysse), says that their "officials stance" is that they'll fight anywhere but St. Louis, Alexander's hometown where he's benefited from some questionable scoring in the past.

Pushing fights back can be unfortunate, but I'm all for this one, for the reasons previously stated. It will mean a major broadcast every Saturday night in September, which is a good thing. (Well, you might not call HBO's Sept. 29 show "major.")

Bailey (43-7, 37 KO) will be defending his IBF welterweight title against former 140-pound titlist Alexander (23-1, 13 KO), while Matthysse (31-2, 29 KO) and Olusegun (30-0, 14 KO) will fight for the interim WBC belt at junior welterweight.