Devon Alexander (born February 10, 1987) is an American

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

. He is a former world champion in two

weight classes Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports, especially combat sports (such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and wrestling). Altern ...

, having held the unified WBC and

IBF The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...

light welterweight Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional boxing In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...

titles in 2010, and the IBF

welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

title from 2012 to 2013. Alexander was prescribed

Tramadol Tramadol, sold under the brand name Ultram among others, is an opioid pain medication used to treat moderate to moderately severe pain. When taken by mouth in an immediate-release formulation, the onset of pain relief usually begins within an h ...

after surgery in 2012, and thereafter had to battle

opiate addiction Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a substance use disorder characterized by cravings for opioids, continued use despite physical and/or psychological deterioration, increased tolerance with use, and withdrawal symptoms after discontinuing opioids. Op ...

, coming clean in 2018.

Early life

Alexander grew up in the Hyde Park neighborhood of north St. Louis,

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

in an area described as rough, gang- and drug-infested. 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. Thirty youngsters joined the boxing program of Cunningham, who had hoped to keep them out of trouble, off the streets, and in the ring. A stablemate of Alexander's,

Cory Spinks Cory Spinks (born Cory Calvin; February 20, 1978) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2013. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the undisputed welterweight title from 2003 to 200 ...

would later become welterweight champion.

Amateur career

Alexander had an outstanding amateur career, compiling a record of 300-10 under the tutelage of Cunningham. He was a four-time

Silver Gloves The Silver Gloves is an annual competition for amateur boxing in the United States. The contest is sponsored by Ringside, Inc. The Silver Gloves are open to all non-professional pugilists age 10 to 15 years old. The Silver Gloves is not the Go ...

champion from ages 10–14; three-time

PAL Phase Alternating Line (PAL) is a colour encoding system for analogue television. It was one of three major analogue colour television standards, the others being NTSC and SECAM. In most countries it was broadcast at 625 lines, 50 fields (25 ...

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 Rock Allen (born September 5, 1981 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2005 to 2009. As an amateur, he competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Allen is a twin and son of famous boxing trainer N ...

to a draw and was knocked down once before losing on a tie-breaker.

Professional career

Light welterweight

At age 17, Alexander made his professional debut, defeating Vincent Torres by first round

technical knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan Sault Ste. Marie ( ') is the only city in, and county seat of, Chippewa County, Michigan, Chippewa County in the U.S. state of Michigan. With a population of 13,337 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the second-most populated ...

. He went up against former WBO junior welterweight champion DeMarcus Corley on January 19, 2008, at

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

in New York City. Alexander easily defeated Corley by unanimous decision.

Light welterweight title

On August 1, 2009, Alexander defeated

Junior Witter Junior Witter (born 10 March 1974) is a British former world champion professional boxer who competed from 1997 to 2015. He held the WBC light welterweight world title from 2006 to 2008 and challenged once for the IBF light welterweight title ...

to claim the vacant WBC

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 vs. Urango

Alexander was next scheduled to face two-time champion

Juan Urango Juan Fernando Urango Rivas (born October 4, 1980), best known as Juan Urango, is a Colombian former professional boxer who competed from 2002 to 2012. He held the IBF junior welterweight title twice between 2006 and 2010, and challenged once ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

in a title unification bout. March 6, 2010 bout was held at the

Mohegan Sun Mohegan Sun is an American casino, owned and operated by the Mohegan Tribe on of their reservation, along the banks of the Thames River in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has of gambling space. It is in the foothills of southeastern Connecticut, ...

in Uncasville, Connecticut and was televised on

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's "Boxing After Dark" telecast. To train for the fight, Alexander used a Las Vegas house lent by promoter

Don King Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups. He has been a controversial figure, partly due to a manslaughter conviction and civil cases against him, as well a ...

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 Andriy Mykolayovich Kotelnyk ( uk, Андрій Миколайович Котельник; born 29 December 1977), best known by germanicized name Andreas Kotelnik, is a Ukrainian professional boxer who competed from 2000 to 2014, and held the W ...

, the former WBA Light Welterweight champion, in his hometown of St. Louis Missouri on August 7 in front of members of the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

Evander Holyfield Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is an American former professional boxer who competed between 1984 and 2011. He reigned as the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in the late 1980s and at heavyweight in the early 1990s, and is the on ...

and

Floyd Mayweather Floyd may refer to: As a name * Floyd (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Floyd (surname), a list of people and fictional characters Places in the United States * Floyd, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Floyd, Iow ...

. 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

Junior Welterweight title for not fighting the no. 1 contender, Kaizer Mabuza.

Alexander vs. Bradley

Alexander's next fight, on January 29, 2011, took place against

Timothy Bradley Timothy Ray Bradley Jr. (born August 29, 1983) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2016. He held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBC light welterweight title twice between 2008 an ...

, which he lost via 10th round TD after an unintentional head-butt forced a stop to the bout.

Alexander vs. 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.

Welterweight

On February 25, 2012 Alexander moved up to welterweight and put on a dominating performance against highly regarded and hard-charging

Marcos Maidana Marcos René Maidana (born 17 July 1983) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2014. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBA (Regular) super lightweight title from 2011 to 2012, and the ...

. 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 Randall Bailey (born September 13, 1974) is an American professional boxer. A veteran of the sport for over twenty years, he is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBO light welterweight title from 1999 to 2000, and t ...

in September 2012. Alexander was criticized by some however, for fighting illegally at some points during the fight. Alexander was scheduled to fight titlest

as a main event on

Showtime Championship Boxing ''Showtime Championship Boxing'' is a television boxing program airing on Showtime. Debuting in March 1986, it is broadcast live on the first Saturday of every month. ''Showtime Championship Boxing'', which is very similar to ''HBO World Champi ...

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 Lucas Martín Matthysse (; born 27 September 1982) is an Argentine former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2018. He held the WBA (Regular) welterweight title in 2018 and the WBC interim super lightweight title from 2012 to 2013. Mat ...

and an originally scheduled non-televised fight between

J'Leon Love J'Leon Love (born September 25, 1987) is an American professional boxer in the Super Middleweight division. Amateur career After his father turned him onto boxing, Love had an amateur career record of 115-5. His opponents have included Shawn ...

and Ramon Valenzuela was changed to a televised bout.

IBF welterweight champion

Alexander returned to action on October 20, 2012, at the

Barclays Center Barclays Center is a multi-purpose list of indoor arenas, indoor arena in the New York City Boroughs of New York City, borough of Brooklyn. The arena is home to the Brooklyn Nets of the National Basketball Association and the New York Liberty o ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, where he won the IBF Welterweight title by unanimous decision against ''Ring'' Top 10 Welterweight,

. 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 vs. Brook cancellation

Alexander's next fight was originally supposed to happen on January 19, 2013 at the Nokia Theatre in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, against

mandatory challenger In professional boxing and some other combat sports, a mandatory challenger is an opponent whom a champion must either fight or be forced to vacate their title as champion. A mandatory defence is the opposite of a voluntary defence, where the champi ...

and ''Ring'' No. 3 ranked Welterweight,

Kell Brook Ezekiel "Kell" Brook (born 3 May 1986) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2004 to 2022. He held the IBF welterweight title from 2014 to 2017, and challenged once for a unified middleweight world title in 2016. At regiona ...

. However, Brook suffered an ankle injury during training, and the fight was postponed for Feb 23rd with the fight taking place in Detroit, where undercard fighter

Cornelius Bundrage Cornelius Bundrage (born April 25, 1973) is an American professional boxer. He is a two-time former world champion, having held the International Boxing Federation, IBF junior middleweight title twice between 2010 and 2015. In 2006 he was a con ...

would be a big draw. There were many venues up for consideration ranging from The Royal Oak Music Theater to The

Joe Louis Arena Joe Louis Arena was an arena in Downtown Detroit. Completed in 1979 at a cost of US$57 million as a replacement for Olympia Stadium, it sat adjacent to TCF Center, Cobo Center on the bank of the Detroit River and was accessible by the Joe Lou ...

, with the decision finally landing to the theater at

Masonic Temple A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history In ...

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

. Before the fight, this time Alexander suffered an injury from his bicep during training rescheduling the fight yet again for May 18, 2013 at the

Boardwalk Hall Jim Whelan Boardwalk Hall, formerly known as the Historic Atlantic City Convention Hall, is a multi-purpose arena in Atlantic City in Atlantic County, New Jersey. It was Atlantic City's primary convention center until the opening of the Atlanti ...

Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.

. Brook would later withdraw from the fight due to a foot injury, calling the fight off for a third time. Alexander would defend his title against replacement

Lee Purdy Lee Purdy (born 29 May 1987) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2013. He held the British Boxing Board of Control, British welterweight title in 2011, challenged once for the vacant Commonwealth welterweight title ...

with Purdy retiring on the stool in the end of the seventh round. Devon won easily but hurt his left hand. Devon would go on to lose his next two biggest fights, losing his championship belt and status as a top contender after all boxing governing bodies removed Devon Alexander from their top rankings.

Shawn Porter loss

Alexander would lose the IBF Welterweight title to

Shawn Porter Shawn Christian Porter (born October 27, 1987) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 2008 to 2021. He is a two-time former welterweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 2013 to 2014 and the WBC title from 2018 ...

on December 7, 2013 by unanimous decision with scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 116-112.

Alexander vs. Khan

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.

Alexander vs. Martinez

Alexander took on gate keeper Aaron Martinez on October 14, 2015 and was dominated through 10 rounds, en route to ultimately losing a unanimous decision.

Alexander vs. Ortiz

On February 17, 2018, Alexander faced Victor Ortiz. Alexander started the fight well, and it looked like he built an early lead on the scorecards, as he was noticeably outlanding his opponent. Ortiz did better in the second part of the fight, which was enough in the eyes of one of the judges to score the fight 115-113 in favor of Ortiz, while the other two judges had it a draw, 114-114, ending the fight in a majority draw.

Alexander vs. Berto

On August 4, 2018, Alexander fought another former world champion in Andre Berto. Alexander, as in his previous fight fought great in the opening rounds and managed to drop Berto in the third round. Berto would, however, be the much better fighter in the later rounds, which earned him the split-decision win, 115-112, 115-12 and 113-114.

Alexander vs. Redkach

In his next fight, Alexander fought Ivan Redkach. Both fighters fought a solid fight in the opening rounds. In the sixth round, Redkach managed to drop Alexander with a stunning uppercut and left hand. Alexander beat the count, only to be dropped two more times, the second being the final one before the referee waved the fight off, awarding Redkach with the KO victory.

Controversy

In 2015, Alexander publicly took a strong stance against The Supreme Court of the United States of America legitimatizing same-sex marriage in the U.S. and

tweeted Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

homophobic statements that were later discussed on boxing articles the next day.

Professional boxing record

References

External links

*
Devon Alexander - Profile, News Archive & Current Rankings
a
Box.Live
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Devon 1987 births African-American boxers Living people Boxers from Missouri Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers American male boxers World Boxing Council champions International Boxing Federation champions World light-welterweight boxing champions World welterweight boxing champions 21st-century African-American sportspeople