Devon Alexander

Alexander grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of north St. Louis, Missouri in an area described as rough, gang- and drug-infested.{{cite news|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/the_bonus/03/02/alexander/index.html|title=Devon Alexander escaped streets of St. Louis to become a champion|accessdate=2010-03-15 |date=2010-03-03|work=SportsIllustrated.cnn.com}} Alexander was mentored by various people at a young age including Former NFL players Eric Drain and Demetrius Johnson, principal of Clay Community Education Center Frank Muelhauser, and PE teacher, Brad Slinkard. He would later join the boxing gym that Kevin Cunningham, a former police officer and security officer at Clay Community Center, turned trainer, founded in the basement of an old police station.{{cite web|url=http://espn.go.com/sports/boxing/notebook/_/id/4966812/devon-alexander-not-letting-praise-get-head|title=Alexander Not Letting Praise Get To His Head|accessdate=2010-03-06 |date=2010-03-05|work=Espn.com}}

Thirty kids joined the boxing program of Cunningham, who had hoped to keep the kids out of trouble, off the streets, and in the ring. A stablemate of Alexander's, Cory Spinks would become welterweight champion. .{{cite web|url=http://www.canadaeast.com/sports/article/974850|title=Devon Alexander rises from mean streets to become world champ|accessdate=2010-03-06 |date=2010-03-05|work=CanadaEast.com}}

Alexander had an outstanding amateur career, compiling a record of 300-10 under the tutelage of Cunningham. He was a four-time Silver Gloves champion from ages 10–14; three-time PAL national champion; Junior Golden Gloves and Junior Olympics national champion; 2003 United States national champion in the 19-and-under division; and 2004 United States light welterweight national champion. Alexander made it to the final round of the 2004 Olympic trials, where he battled Rock Allen to a draw and was knocked down once before losing on a tie-breaker.{{cite web|url=http://www.boxingscene.com/?m=show&id=12162 |title=New School Pick of the Week: Devon Alexander |accessdate=2008-01-23 |last=Donovan |first=Jake |date=2008-01-18 |work=BoxingScene.com}}

At age 17, Alexander made his professional debut, defeating Vincent Torres by first round technical knockout in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan.

He went up against former WBO junior welterweight champion DeMarcus Corley on January 19, 2008, at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Alexander easily defeated Corley by unanimous decision.{{cite web|url=http://www.boxingnews24.com/2008/01/alexander-decisions-corley-collazo-defeats-barros/ |title=Alexander Decisions Corley, Collazo Defeats Barros |accessdate=2008-01-23 |date=2008-01-21 |work=BoxingNews24.com}}

On August 1, 2009, Alexander defeated Junior Witter to claim the vacant WBC light welterweight championship. Witter gave up on his stool after the eighth round, claiming that he had re-injured his left hand. Alexander was hurt by a right hand in round 2. All three judges had Alexander ahead at the time of the stoppage 79-73, 79-73, 80-72.

Alexander was next scheduled to face two-time champion Juan Urango of Colombia in a title unification bout. The 6 March 2010 bout was held at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut and was televised on HBO's "Boxing After Dark" telecast. To train for the fight, Alexander used a Las Vegas house lent by promoter Don King as training base. Devon Alexander defeated Juan Urango by TKO in round 8.

Alexander threw an uppercut which dropped Urango. Urango made the count but Alexander resumed his attack and threw a hook to Urango's temple which again dropped him. Urango stood up but was clearly dazed, resulting in a stoppage by the referee. Urango, who suffered his first KO defeat, called out Timothy Bradley after the fight, but a fight was never made because Bradley just moved up to welterweight.

In his next fight he faced Andreas Kotelnik, the former WBA Light Welterweight champion, in his hometown of St. Louis Missouri on 7 August in front of members of the St. Louis Rams, Evander Holyfield and Floyd Mayweather.{{cite web|url=http://www.hbo.com/boxing/fights/index.html#/boxing/fights/2010/03-06-devon-alexander-vs-juan-urango/article/fight-update.html|title=The Matador: Alexander Unified Champion|accessdate=2010-03-16 |date=2010-03-06|work=HBO.com}} Alexander won the fight by a controversial unanimous decision with all judges scoring the fight 116-112.

On October 22, 2010, Alexander was stripped of the IBF Junior Welterweight title for not fighting the no. 1 contender, Kaizer Mabuza.

{{Main|Timothy Bradley vs. Devon Alexander}}

Alexander's next fight, on January 29, 2011, took place against Timothy Bradley, which he lost via 10th round TD after an unintentional head-butt forced a stop to the bout.http://boxrec.com/list_bouts.php?human_id=254834&cat=boxer

{{Main|Devon Alexander vs. Lucas Matthysse}}

On June 25, 2011, Alexander defeated Lucas Matthysse in a controversial split decision. The judges scored the fight 96-93 and 95-94 for Alexander and 96-93 for Matthysse.

{{Main|Devon Alexander vs. Marcos Maidana}}

On February 25, 2012 Alexander moved up to welterweight and put on a dominating performance against highly regarded and hard-charging Marcos Maidana. Alexander landed the right hook at will, catching Maidana with his left hand down throughout the contest. Maidana was seemingly surprised by both the speed and power Alexander displayed at his first fight at welterweight. Only one of the three judges had Maidana winning a round. The impressive nature of the win earned Alexander a title match with Randall Bailey in September 2012. Alexander was criticized by some however, for fighting illegally at some points during the fight.

Alexander was scheduled to fight titlest Randall Bailey as a main event on Showtime Championship Boxing on September 8, 2012, but Bailey withdrew due to injury. Their fight was replaced with the original undercard fight between Olusegun Ajose and Lucas Matthysse and an originally scheduled non-televised fight between J'Leon Love and Ramon Valenzuela was changed to a televised bout.http://espn.go.com/blog/dan-rafael/post/_/id/1804/love-valenzuela-elevated-to-co-main-event

Alexander returned to action on October 20, 2012, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, where he won the IBF Welterweight title by unanimous decision against Ring Top 10 Welterweight, Randall Bailey. The fight was fought at a comfortable pace for Alexander, with very little exchanges, as Bailey did not let his hands go very often. In a one sided fight, Alexander won his third world title in his second division.

Alexander's next fight was originally supposed to happen on January 19, 2013, against mandatory challenger and Ring No. 3 ranked Welterweight, Kell Brook. However, Brook suffered an ankle injury during training, and the fight was rescheduled for May 18, 2013 in Atlantic City. Alexander's camp and some boxing insiders have questioned the authenticity of this injury and assert that Brook was simply not ready to step up in class to fight Alexander.

Devon would go on to lose his next two biggest fights, losing his championship belt & status as a top contender after all boxing governing bodies removed Devon Alexander from their Top rankings.http://www.fightnews.com/rankings-2

Alexander would lose the IBF Welterweight title to Shawn Porter on December 7, 2013 by unanimous decision with scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 116-112.{{cite news|title=Shawn Porter claims IBF welterweight belt; Paulie Malignaggi wins battle of Brooklyn|date=8 December 2013|work=Sky Sports| url=http://www1.skysports.com/boxing/news/12183/9063411/shawn-porter-claims-ibf-welterweight-belt-paulie-malignaggi-wins-battle-of-brooklyn}}

Brook later defeated Shawn Porter for the less than sparkling IBF Welterweight belt - somewhat clearing Brook of possibly ducking Alexander.

Alexander lost the WBC Silver Welterweight title to Amir Khan on December 13, 2014 by a lopsided unanimous decision with scores of 119-109, 118-110, 120-108.http://www.espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/12026364/amir-khan-defeats-devon-alexander-unanimous-decision

Devon Alexander took a strong stance against The Supreme Court of the United States of America legitimatizing same-sex marriage in the USA, Devon Alexander tweeted homophobic statements that were discussed on boxing articles the next day http://www.badlefthook.com/2015/6/26/8854865/devon-alexander-homophobic-twitter-tirade-gay-marriagehttp://www.thesweetscience.com/news/articles/21058-devon-alexander-lobbies-for-adam-and-eve-over-adam-and-stevehttp://www.rappler.com/sports/by-sport/boxing-mma/97601-devon-alexander-homophobic-rant

{{BoxingRecordSummary

|draws=1

|nc=

|ko-wins=14

|ko-losses=3

|dec-wins=13

|dec-losses=6

}}

{{commons}}

• List of male boxers
• List of southpaw stance boxers
• List of world light-welterweight boxing champions
• List of world welterweight boxing champions

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite journal |last=Nelson |first=Peter Owen |date=March 3, 2010 |title= Devon Alexander escaped streets of St. Louis to become a champion|url=http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/the_bonus/03/02/alexander/index.html |journal= Sports Illustrated |location=New York |publisher=Time Inc. |accessdate= }}
• {{cite news |last=Samaha |first=Albert |date=February 23, 2012 |title=Familiar Ring: What must Devon Alexander "The Great" do to live up to his nickname? |url= http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2012-02-23/news/devon-alexander/|newspaper=Riverfront Times |location= St. Louis |publisher=Village Voice Media |accessdate= }}
• {{cite news |last= Timmermann|first=Tom |date=15 January 2008 |title=St. Louisan living a dream with title fight |url= http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/othersports/story/CAE354730EFA22D5862573D100189AE3?OpenDocument |newspaper=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |location= St. Louis |publisher=Lee Enterprises |accessdate= }}

• {{Boxrec|id=254834}}
• [https://box.live/boxers/devon-alexander/ Devon Alexander - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings] at [https://Box.Live Box.Live]

{{s-start}}

{{s-sports}}

{{s-text|style=background:#C1D8FF; font-weight: bold;|text=Amateur boxing titles}}

{{s-before|before=Lamont Peterson}}

{{s-ttl|title=U.S. light-welterweight champion

|years=2004}}

{{s-after|after=Karl Dargan}}

{{s-text|style=background:#C1D8FF; font-weight: bold;|text=Regional boxing titles}}

|-

{{s-vac|last=Timothy Bradley}}

{{s-ttl|title=WBC Youth
welterweight champion

|years=July 8, 2006 – 2007
Vacated}}

{{s-vac|next=James de la Rosa}}

|-

{{s-vac|last=Michel Rosales}}

{{s-ttl|title=WBC Continental Americas
light-welterweight champion

|years=January 19, 2008 – 2008
Vacated}}

{{s-vac|next=Jo Jo Dan}}

{{s-text|style=background:#C1D8FF; font-weight: bold;|text=World boxing titles}}

|-

{{s-vac|last=Timothy Bradley}}

{{s-ttl|title=WBC light-welterweight champion

|years=August 1, 2009 – January 29, 2011}}

{{s-aft|after=Timothy Bradley}}

{{s-bef|before=Juan Urango}}

{{s-ttl|title=IBF light-welterweight champion

|years=March 6, 2010 – October 22, 2010
Stripped}}

{{s-vac|next=Zab Judah}}

{{s-bef|before=Randall Bailey}}

{{s-ttl|title=IBF welterweight champion

|years=October 20, 2012 – December 7, 2013}}

{{s-aft|after=Shawn Porter}}

{{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Devon}}

Category:1987 births

Category:Living people

Category:American male boxers

Category:African-American boxers

Category:Boxers from Missouri

Category:Southpaw boxers

Category:World light-welterweight boxing champions

Category:World welterweight boxing champions

Category:Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers

Category:World Boxing Council champions

Category:International Boxing Federation champions