By Chris Robinson

“Everything is going good. I’m just shaking up right now at the gym. Not doing anything too hard. Just getting loose and getting my body back to training a little bit. Heading to camp in a few weeks. It’s going to be in Vegas again. I’ll be up in the mountains, running up Mount Charleston. I’ll be ready.”

Those were the words from WBC junior welterweight champion Devon Alexander earlier today as he spoke about his January 29th fight with fellow champion Timothy Bradley as well as several other topics related to his career. The soft-spoken 23-year old is coming off of a less than stirring twelve round decision over former champion Andriy Kotelnik this past August but knows fully well he can erase the images from that bout with a victory over his Palm Springs, California foe.

Alexander is very enigmatic in his ways, as you can see serious potential in him yet are still left wanting more. His modest approach to life doesn’t make for the kind of trash talking headlines that other stars get caught up in but he has a great story all his own, as he overcome the temptations of the streets in St. Louis before tunneling his ambitions to the sport of boxing at the age of seven. Over fifteen years later and he now finds himself knocking on the door to stardom.

I recently caught up with Alexander and broke down his thoughts on facing Bradley next year, the December 11th Amir Khan-Marcos Maidana battle, why Manny Pacquiao has the edge of Antonio Margarito, his thoughts on dealing with his haters plus much more.

This is what Devon had to say…

Learning from the Kotelnik fight…
“You know it wasn’t my best performance. But it definitely opened up my eyes. It was a learning experience. I had to get over fighting in front of my home crowd. I was nervous and I definitely learned from it. I know I wasn’t at my best but it’s only going to get better.”

How bad he wants a fight with Timothy Bradley…
“It’s a fight that stopped me from becoming a superstar in the game. I feel that we are the best 140 pounders in the world. I feel that I’m number one but I have to fight Bradley to prove that I am the best among the 140 pounders. He’s standing in the way and that’s why I think I want the fight so bad. And plus he’s claiming to be number one, and if I’m number two, why not number one and number two face each other?”

Nothing special with Bradley…
“He’s accomplished what he accomplished. He’s an okay fighter. He’s a hard worker and he’ll come ready to go twelve rounds. But [he’s] nothing special, nothing special. In this fight I am just going to go back to the basics and I am going to do what I’ve been doing. My speed is going to kill him and my angles are going to kill him. He’s not going to be see any of my punches.”

The danger of Marcos Maidana…
“If Maidana catches [Khan] I think he can put him to sleep and he probably won’t wake up. It just depends on who fights the right fight. It’s about who fight their fight and not trying to fight outside of what they know how to do best. It just depends on what they do.”

Why Amir Khan is hype…
“I think Amir Khan is a hype job. He’s just a hype job. He’s over there with Pacquiao. I mean he’s with Freddie Roach and all that but he’s just a hype job. Amir Khan hasn’t beat anybody who is the best in the division. He fought Malignaggi, who was pretty much done, and who else has he fought? In my opinion, he’s just a hype job trying to act better than what he is.”

Respecting Lamont Peterson heading into his fight with Victor Ortiz…
“That’s going to be a good matchup. I think, if I’m not mistaken, that they fought in the amateurs. But that’s going to be a good fight. Victor knows Lamont Peterson from the amateurs and when Victor Ortiz was in the amateurs he was ranked like eighth or ninth and Lamont Peterson has always been ranked number one. Mentally it could play a factor but it should be a good fight. I’ve got Lamont Peterson with a slight edge if he comes out right. I don’t think he was right for Timothy Bradley; I think Lamont Peterson has way more skills than that. We’ll have to see about that one too. Ortiz is a good fighter and has redeemed himself a little bit, so we’ll see.”

Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito…
“It’s an okay matchup. Margarito just got off of his suspension and he hasn’t been in the ring so he could be kind of rusty. It just depends, it just depends. I think Pacquiao is going to be too fast for him. Pacquiao hasn’t been focused. If he’s focused it means that Pacquiao is going to be too fast for him.”

Why right handers struggle with southpaws…
“It comes from a different angle that they aren’t used to seeing as often as opposed to the fighting a right hander. We’re on the right side; they’re on the left side, so if they are on the left side they really aren’t going to see the left hand coming. Mentally it’s going to catch them. My jab is on top of their jab, always. It just depends on the southpaw. If the southpaw is a slugger it could be a factor too. But if it’s a speedy boxer-puncher it’s going to be hard to beat.”

His legendary promoter Don King…
“Don’s been great to me. I have no complaints with Don. Don has treated me good. He’s just like any other promoter. Any other promoters want to get what they are supposed to get and it’s just a business. Everybody is going to fight for their selves. They want to come out on top on their situation. I think he’s just misunderstood. People just need to get to know him. He’s a really cool dude and I have no problem with him. I’m with a legendary promoter who has had Chavez and some of the biggest stars in boxing. I have no complaints.”

Learning the business of boxing…
“If you aint learning something than something’s wrong. Somebody could be taking something from you. You have to keep up with how much money you really are supposed to be getting and how much money is actually in the pot. You have the money that HBO gives, plus you still have to add up the door, the souvenirs, all the sponsors and all that. You pretty much have to be aware of all of that. How much money the fight is going to attract. I’m definitely learning the game and I’m definitely on it.”

Dealing with the hate…
“You know you have haters everywhere in every city. You have haters in every city. People like to talk smart comments and look at you like you aint all that. I don’t think I’m like that, I show love to everybody. You can just sense the vibe of people looking at you with an ugly look in St. Louis. That’s just how St. Louis is. But for the most part people like me and they like that I’m humble. I show love to all my fans and I don’t look down on anybody because I have no right to. I’m just trying hard to get to where I gotta get and that’s it. I tell everybody that the only thing that has changed is my address, that’s it.

Chris Robinson is based out of Las Vegas, Nevada. An archive of his work can be found here, and he can be reached at Trimond@aol.com