At 23 years of age, up-and-coming middleweight contender Williams, 12-0-1 [7 KOs] was being tested with fading 37-year-old ex-champion Alcine, 33-4-1 [19 KOs], who was Haiti’s first boxing champion, and was known to work slickly from behind a jab.
Williams came out and dropped Alcine twice with an overhand right and left hook. Alcine somehow managed to hang on.
His corner remained calm, and over the course of rounds 2 and 3 he was able to take advantage of William’s rookie tendency to ‘fall in’ behind his punches. Alcine held and smothered for two rounds, losing but surviving.
In Round 4 Williams ‘chopped’ Alcine down on a break. Alcine survived that too.
Both corners did a fine job, with their pulse on the fight, and the commentary was top notch. Noting that Alcine no longer fought behind a jab but laid on the inside one commentator said, “The only fighter that is jabbing is winning.”
In Round 5 Alcine went to war. He began attacking the body with combinations, and as he leveled-up to rip a hook to the head, Williams beat him to it and dropped him with a hook of his own. Alcine recovered and went to work behind a sizzling jab and hurt Williams with a shovel to the liver.
Round 6 saw Williams obviously fatigued and easily timed. Alcine appeared to be warming up and put in a lot of good bodywork, definitely winning the round.
Round 7 found William falling into the clinch behind a 1-2 and laboring in the corner. Alcine went to work behind some vicious shovels to the liver.
Round 8 found Alcine all over Williams: boxing, holding, and countering. The round ended with the younger stronger man in trouble against the ropes.
It was a shame for Alcine that this was not a 12 round fight, or he might have finished his man late or walked away with a split decision. This was only scheduled for 8 and served as a brutal learning experience for Williams and a morale booster and wakeup call for Alcine. If Alcine could have come out behind that jab early this could have been a solid win for him. Who knows why he didn’t. He may lack the energy or perhaps have a shoulder injury. I do hope he gets another win and a good 12 round pay day before it’s over for him.
