Devon Alexander Beats Lucas Matthysse Split Decision, Cloud KOs Mack and More

Tonight was a great HBO triple-header!

Stiverne wins KNOCKOUT over Austin

First up was Bermane Stiverne (21-1-1, 20 KOs) vs Ray Austin (28-6-3, 18 KOs).

"B.WARE" Stiverne, 32 years old, was being outboxed by the 40-year-old Austin until Round 7.

In Round 7, Stiverne landed some mean shots that rocked Austin. Then Stiverne won the eighth round as well.

Round 9, Austin regained control with his jab as Stiverne tired out, unable to take control of the fight.

Forty-three seconds into the 10th round, Stiverne threw a right that put Austin down for the count.

Austin did get to his feet at the 10-count, but could not come forward when the referee requested him to do so.

Stiverne is now the mandatory challenger for the WBC heavyweight title.

Vitali Klitschko (42-2, 39 KOs) is the current WBC heavyweight champion and has been for the past seven years.

Good luck Stiverne, you'll need it!

Cloud wins KNOCKOUT over Mack

Up next, undefeated IBF light-heavyweight (175 lbs) world champion Tavoris Cloud (22-0, 18 KOs) defending his title against Yusaf Mack (28-3-2, 17 KOs).

Mack put up a great fight, out-boxing Cloud enough to win on most scorecards for the first four or five rounds.

Cloud stayed aggressive and relentless, despite eating numerous jabs and head-snapping shots, even to the point that blood starting sprouting from his mouth.

Mack began to wear down around Round 5 and 6.

Cloud's relentlessness and power eventually got to a progressively more and more tired Mack.

In the corner before Round 8, Cloud's trainer yelled at him to get Mack out of there.

Cloud obeyed his corner and severely hurt Mack with a left hook to the jaw and followed with a quick flurry as Mack helplessly covered up along the ropes.

A right to the body sent Mack crashing to the canvas.

He got up to beat the count, but was too dazed to come forward when instructed by the ref to do so.

This eighth-round knockout improves Cloud to 23-0, with 19 knockouts.

Mack falls to 28-4-2, with all of his losses coming by way of knockout.

Alexander wins SPLIT DECISION over Matthysse

In our main event, Devon Alexander (22-1, 13 KOs) looked for redemption against Lucas Matthysse (28-1, 26 KOs).

Alexander's whole team walked into the ring wearing white shirts with the word "redemption" in bold black letters on the front.

Alexander stood and delivered in the center of the ring in the opening round.

Things were going great until Round 4. Matthysse put Alexander down for the first time in his career.

Alexander recovered quick and was back to standing in Matthysse's face and still out-boxing him.

Alexander maneuvered to avoid some shots, but he mostly ate shots while landing some decent ones of his own on Matthysse.

Matthysse continued to walk though Alexander's punches to land the harder blows. Alexander began to tie up Matthysse a lot to slow down Matthysse's vicious onslaught.

Matthysse landed numerous hooks and uppercuts that would put a lesser fighter down for the count, but Alexander's above-average chin was well on display.

Alexander tried to backpedal in Round 7, but Matthysse hungrily stalked Alexander with some bone-crunching body shots.

As he tired from bouncing around the ring, Alexander went back to trading shots with Matthysse, resulting in Alexander eating far more leather than his corner wanted him to.

Alexander gave an inspired, but losing, effort in the eighth round. Matthysse continued to land straights and body shots.

The leans and winces of Alexander indicated he felt every blow.

Matthysse seemed to smile as if he enjoyed being punched.

In Round 9, Alexander weaved more shots as he began to out-box Matthysse again. Alexander even managed to hurt Matthysse a little.

The 10th round was highly important in a very even fight. Matthysse stole it with some huge shots that kept Alexander from wanting to exchange as he was so quick to do earlier in the fight.

Though the theme was redemption, it's questionable if Alexander actually earned the victory.

Granted, you don't come into someone else's backyard and expect to win a close fight.

Matthysse should have knocked Alexander out to get the victory, especially after what happened when he lost by split decision to Zab Judah near Judah's hometown.

Alexander improves to 23-1 and Matthysse falls to 28-2.

Though it's questionable as to whether Alexander deserved the win, it's unquestionable that he showed amazing heart in a fight with the big puncher that is Matthysse.

Both will stay world title contenders based off tonight's great performances in an amazing fight that will have many hitting the rewind button as they watch the fight again on HBO and future YouTube uploads.