Parking spots along the smooth red chipped brick street in front of the Marquette Rec Center were at a premium last Thursday, with a variety of vehicles wedged in close to the curbs. There wasn’t much action outside of the weathered building displaying the “Marquette Pool” concrete banner above wooden double doors a few yards away from the soft whirring of exhaust fans.
A brown patch of trampled grass formed a well traveled path twisting around to the back of the structure, where neighborhood kids splashed away a summer afternoon in an “L”-shaped pool filled with baby blue, chlorine-infused water.
But inside the center’s bright boxing space, members of the St. Louis media were setting up their cameras and getting ready for junior welterweight Devon Alexander’s open workout in preparation for his WBC world title fight this Saturday against Junior Witter.
With a trio of local network news crews on standby, trainer Kevin Cunningham, the man responsible for helping craft the career of his sensational young star, slipped through the ropes wearing a pair of focus mitts. Alexander bounced lightly in his snow white boxing shoes and sleeveless T-shirt as his coach called for jabs, one following another, setting a deliberate tempo.
The rhythm picked up speed as the undefeated southpaw began to expand on the baseline beat by adding every improvisational riff in his repertoire while slipping effortlessly underneath an occasional hook designed to keep his head in the game.
After round one, Cunningham and his charge exited the ring and made their way over to a red leather heavybag with an interested mob in tow. For the duration of round two, the bag chained at four points and suspended from a chunk of 2 by 4 would absorb hellacious hooks fired at close range while the trainer quietly reaffirmed, “Speed, power, let’s go.”
The display of fast hands would continue on a grapefruit-sized double end bag that was peppered and popped at arm’s length. The workout ended with Alexander drubbing a speed bag like a virtuoso, turning at one point to flash the cameras with his high wattage grin as a shrill 30-second whistle from the round timer split the air.
All this in preparation for the biggest fight of his career against Junior Witter (37-2), who at age thirty-five has faced the likes of Vivian Harris and Timothy Bradley, the man who vacated the title that Witter and Alexander (18-0) will be looking to capture.
During the Q&A, I asked Cunningham about the state of his team.
“He’s ready mentally, spiritually and physically. He’s always ready physically, but he’s really prepared. We’ve broken down tapes, strategized, put the game plan together. It’s just a matter of going out and executing,” Cunningham said.
“We are extremely appreciative of the best boxing fans in the world and come August 1st on Showtime at eight o’clock sharp, Devon will bring the WBC junior welterweight championship title back to St. Louis.”
Local boxing fans will be watching along with the rest of the Showtime audience as the rising Alexander makes a bid for the WBC strap in a move that would open doors and serve notice to the world that St. Louis’ rich boxing history continues.
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Vernon Forrest murdered
In a month that included the losses of legends Alexis Arguello and Arturo Gatti, former Olympian and two division world champion Vernon Forrest was shot and killed last Saturday night in an attempted carjacking in Atlanta. In a tribute column to “The Viper” the following morning, Maxboxing.com’s Thomas Gerbasi referred to the past three weeks as “the darkest July in the sport’s history.”
I will remember Forrest’s superb performances against Shane Mosley in 2002, as well as his compassion for the mentally challenged. He created the group home Destiny’s Child to provide care and housing to mentally challenged adults.
