By Lem Satterfield

After a few slow rounds, junior welterweight Devon Alexander believes that he finally found his rhythm and began to outbox Timothy Bradley in the second half of their fight, which took place on Saturday night at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. A clash of heads would end their contest early in the tenth round. Alexander was unable to see from his already injured left eye and the ringside physician stopped the fight. Bradley won a unanimous technical ten round decision. 

"I was definitely boxing him better around the eighth or ninth round, and then, that's when that second gear kicked in. I was definitely picking it up," said Alexander. "I was starting to box his head off. He was no longer able to hit me clean. And then, in the 10th round -- Boom! -- that's when it happened."

Alexander's trainer, Kevin Cunningham, believes the head clashes played a big role in the loss, but he didn't let his fighter off the hook for several tactical mistakes.

"There were some shots where Devon just didn't pull the trigger. Devon could have hit Tim with the straight left hand and the hook just about every time that he threw it," said Cunningham. "Every time he threw either one of those punches, they would be right on the money. Devon just didn't pull the trigger often enough."

Alexander blamed his trigger issues on the head clashes with Bradley.

"I know that I could have let my hands go a lot more, but I was trying to just be patient and watch the head butts because I know that he's going to leap in every time punch," said Alexander. "So I had to be careful and use my jab. The uppercut was part of the game plan, but like I said, the head butt was kind of getting to me. I tried to fight it out completely, head butts and all."

Lem Satterfield is the boxing editor at AOL FanHouse and the news editor at BoxingScene.com. To read more from Lem Satterfield, go to AOL FanHouse by Clicking Here.