By Ryan Burton

 

Former WBC/IBF junior welterweight champion Devon Alexander appeared on the most recent edition of The Boxing Lab, BoxingScene.com's official audio show.  Alexander will be making his welterweight debut in February against Marcos Maidana who will also be moving up to welterweight.

 

Alexander said that he has had trouble getting down to the 140 pound junior welterweight limit in his recent fights. 

"People don't know that I have been fighting at 140 pounds since I was 15 years old.  I'm 24 now and I have my man strength," explained Alexander.

 

The St. Louis native feels that he will be at his best at 147 pounds and is anxious to prove the critics wrong who began criticizing him after his close win over Andriy Kotelnyk.  He said that he has been fighting at less than full strength and that the fans will see the real Devon in his next fight. 

"I'm excited. I am going to be ready to go 12 rounds if the fight goes that long. In recent fights you have seen Devon at 60%.  I'm amped up for my 147 pound debut", Alexander told The Boxing Lab.

 

Maidana is a tough fighter who holds wins over Victor Ortiz and Erik Morales and also gave Amir Khan hell for 12 rounds.  Alexander knows he has to be on top of his game to get a victory over the Argentinean.  He said that they have a plan to take advantage of the mistakes that the knockout artist makes.

 

"Every boxing fan knows Maidana is a hard hitting son of a gun," stated Alexander.  "I study tapes. I see a lot of flaws in there (with Maidana). Morales hit him at will and he doesn't have a lot left.  Ortiz caught Maidana throwing wild punches and dropped him three times, so imagine what I am going to do," he continued.

 

Alexander picked up the WBC junior welterweight belt with a TKO victory over Junior Witter in August of 2009.  He added the IBF version of the junior welterweight championship with an exciting knockout win over Juan Urango in March of 2010.  That is when Alexander's stock in the sport peaked.  He followed up that fight with the unanimous decision win over Kotelnyk, a technical decision loss to Bradley and most recently a split decision win over Matthysse. According to Alexander, a win over Maidana will put him right back where he was before the Bradley loss.

 

"Maidana is known as being of the top guys and a tough cookie.  A win (over Maidana) will solidify my name as being one of the best in the game. It will put me back where I was before I fought Bradley," said Alexander.

 

Send questions or comments to ringsidewriter@gmail.com Follow Ryan on Twitter @ringsidewriter and tune in to The Boxing Lab, Boxingscene's official audio on Tuesdays. The show is hosted by Ernie Gabion, Luis Sandoval and Ryan Burton