A Don King fight card featuring Devon Alexander and Cory Spinks on March 27 captured most of the headlines, but the ascension of DeAndre “Bull” Latimore and several outstanding amateur boxers made 2008 one of St. Louis’ biggest in boxing.
Here’s a look at some highlights of the year in boxing.
Jan. 11 n Highly decorated amateur Ty Chatman makes his pro debut and wins by stopping his opponent at 1:30 of round one
Feb. 15 n Cory Spinks is the in-studio guest on ESPN2’s Friday Night Fights
Feb. 22 n Stephon Young gives a standout performance for Team St. Louis as they face off against the U.S. Army’s boxing squad at the Family Arena
Mar. 27 n Devon Alexander “The Great” defeats Miguel Callist with textbook boxing skills over a dozen one-sided rounds, while Cory Spinks loses his IBF Junior Middleweight strap to Verno Phillips in a split decision at the Scottrade Center
Mar. 28 n The next evening at the finals of the St. Louis Golden Gloves, Jim Howell’s NCAA group wins the team trophy as Northside fighters Derrick Murray and Darwin Price excel
May 17 n The St. Louis boxing community mourns the sudden loss of Anthony Lane, the talented student/athlete of Team STL
June 11 n Deandre “The Bull” Latimore shakes up the rankings in the junior middle division by stopping Sechew Powell midway through round seven in the main event of ESPN2’s Wednesday Night Fights
June 17-20 n Joshua Temple from the Wohl Rec Center and Cherokee’s Otis Brown Jr. are two of the half-dozen local amateurs to medal at the Junior Olympic National Championships in Michigan
July 10 n The World Boxing Council names Devon Alexander as the No. 1-ranked contender in the super lightweight division.
Nov. 7 n Leon Bobo, Lamar Harris and Danny Williams are all victorious at Rumble Time Promotions’ Friday Night Fights event
Nov. 11 n After a nearly eight month layoff, Devon Alexander travels to China and stops Sun-Haeng Lee, then returns to the ring four weeks later in New Jersey and dispatches Christopher Fernandez to up his record to 17-0
Dec. 13 n Local fighters dominate the State Silver Gloves Tournament at the Marquette Rec Center
Dec. 20 n Deadline for negotiations on a IBF mandated light middleweight bout between Cory Spinks and DeAndre Latimore.
