Devon Alexander Draws Strength From Tough Childhood
Filed under: WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO, Golden Boy Promotions, HBO, Showtime, Victor Ortiz, IBO
As difficult as it might be for 23-year-old Devon Alexander to perhaps clean out and rise to the top of what is a talented junior welterweight (140-pounds) division, that battle pales in comparison to the one he began when he first donned boxing gloves at the age of 7.
As a young boy growing up in an embattled section of St. Louis, Mo. Alexander begged his mother to allow him to go into boxing.
When she relented, Alexander was rewarded by a first-class butt-whupping from one of his good friends following his initial sparring session.
That friend, however, has long since been killed — a victim of the rough neighborhood that Alexander grew up in. And many other acquaintances from Alexander’s youth are either dead, in prison, or have served time behind bars.
So needless to say, Alexander is a survivor.
“I started in boxing when I was seven. I come from a rough St. Louis neighborhood where most people go to jail or end up dead,” said Alexander, one of 13 children in his family. “I heard gun shots every night where you have to hit the ground and check to make sure the bullets didn’t hit you.”
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