St. Louisan Devon Alexander is one step towards realizing his dream of fighting for a world championship in professional boxing. “Alexander the Great” has moved to the No. 1 spot in the latest World Boxing Council (WBC) rankings in the super lightweight division (140 pounds). Alexander, who sports a 15-0 record, is the current WBC Continental Americas light welterweight champion. He won that belt on March 27 by defeating Miguel Callist at the Scottrade Center.
By reaching the status as the No. 1 ranked contender, Alexander is in a position for a mandatory championship fight against WBC champion Timothy Bradley by the end of the year.
“I think he’s ahead of schedule, but a lot of experts feel that Devon is the best in the world at 140 pounds,” said trainer and manager Kevin Cunningham. “I think Devon has earned it because he has worked hard. He has beaten some top contenders and former world champions and he’s beaten them easily. Sometimes, it takes a fighter 30 to 35 fights before they reach No. 1 status, but it took Devon only 15 fights.”
The other caveat of being the No. 1 contender is that it puts Alexander in line to be the mandatory challenger for the WBC title belt, which is currently held at Timothy Bradley. Cunningham is quite pleased as that prospect.
“Hopefully, by the end of the year, Devon will be fighting for a world title,” Cunningham said. “At this time, he will probably fight on Don King’s Showtime card on Sept. 13. He will take a fight to stay sharp until we can get the champ into the ring.”
Venus envy
From the beginning of the Wimbledon women’s tennis championships, it was pretty clear that sisters Venus and Serena Williams were on a collision course to meet in the championship match. The Williams sisters pretty much rendered the rest of the field null and void as they powered their way to an exciting championship match on Saturday, which was won by Venus. It is still pretty evident that when they are healthy, focused and on their games, they cannot be defeated by anyone, but each other.
Campers
The Camp Genesis Learning & Sports Academy, directed by Joel Greshman (a.k.a. “Coach G) and current St. Louis Rams receiver Brandon Williams have joined forces to put on a one-day speed mini-camp on Saturday at Normandy High School from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The camp is available to youths of all ages. The cost of the one-day event is $20. For more information, you can call (314) 368-8154.
I have a slight correction to make from last week’s camp update. If you would like to participate in Action Jackson’s Shooting Camp at Northwest High School, the cost of the camp is $65. I had a misprint in last week’s paper of $25. I don’t want to put my man Action out of business. For more information on this excellent basketball shooting camp, you can call (314) 537-6817 or 383-0628. My bad.
Tell Earl
I am continuing to get your feedback on who you think should be in my upcoming book on the Top 100 High School African-American athletes from the St. Louis metropolitan area. I can be reached at (314) 289-542 or at eaustin@stlamerican.com. You can also drop me a line at St. Louis American, Sports Department, 4242 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, Mo., 63108. I am getting a lot of great names from many different eras. I would like to hear a little more from some people who had relatives who were stars in the 1940’s and 50’s.
