Devon Alexander is like any other talented teenager with a brilliant future ahead. By sticking to the game plan that’s gotten him to this point, you can be assured that personally and professionally, he’s on the ground floor stepping onto an elevator that only goes up.
– From “Devon graduates into the big time”
”Fighting Words,” St. Louis American, May 19, 2005
In a taped segment that aired prior to HBO’s Boxing After Dark main event last Saturday evening, a nationwide audience was introduced to Devon Alexander “The Great,” the WBC junior welterweight champion who realized his quest for a world title seven months ago by forcing Junior Witter to surrender between rounds.
As a strand of soft notes unwound beneath Bob Papa’s narration, Alexander and trainer Kevin Cunningham retold their story of the birth of a gym in Hyde Park, while footage flashed desolate shots of the barren lots and toppled brick buildings lined along avenues of drug use and violent crime.
“The Great” referenced those desperate and dangerous streets in a piece on SI.com last week when he was quoted as saying, “I’d ask myself why I didn’t get shot walking to the gym. Any of us could have fallen to a stray.”
But 2 minutes and 24 ticks into the eighth chapter of his 140 pound WBC & IBF title unification fight with Juan Urango, it was a figurative bullet in the form of a left hook that the brilliant St. Louis southpaw dodged, setting up a vicious counter that kicked off a wild coming-out party.
As the sturdy Urango fell in with both his head and left glove down, Alexander disappeared for a split second, only to reappear and fire a right handed hollow-tipped uppercut slug in a harmonious marriage of speed and timing formed during years of focus-mitt courtship.
The oak neck of the Colombian swayed as his face contorted above a displaced jawline. He lingered for a moment in suspended animation before meeting the ring’s floorboards for the first time in the match.
Urango gamely rose to continue, but a swarming Alexander needed only a few supplemental punches to drop his overwhelmed opponent again, prompting referee Benjy Esteves Jr. to pull the plug.
World-class cornerman Kevin Cunningham did a superb job writing up a game plan that focused on hitting and getting out without running, holding or standing in front of the power puncher.
The disciplined St. Louis contingent stayed cool throughout the early action, and as frames clicked away Devon looked like he was putting rounds in the bank. When right hands started to touch his man in the middle of the contest, Cunningham was there to refocus and center his charge.
When the exclamation point was tacked on, Alexander’s crew spilled into the ring decked out in St. Louis Cardinals caps and began the celebration.
In a post-fight interview with Max Kellerman, the smiling victor thanked his fans in St. Louis and promised a local fight in the future. At the prompting of Kellerman, he then lifted the sleeve of his T-shirt and showed off a triple-stacked bicep that helped him capture the IBF belt.
While throwing down a challenge to Timothy Bradley and the rest of the junior welter ranks, an irreverent (and irrelevant) Zab Judah tried tearing a page out of Kanye West’s playbook by leaning into the spotlight and lobbying for another bout in St. Louis. As if savvy boxing fans aren’t aware that from this point forward, Devon’s schedule has been cleared for A-list talent only.
The future opportunities for Alexander are exciting, and it’s satisfying to know that a perfectly executed game plan in and out of the ring continues to work for him.
