Around 3 PM on a typical weekday you can find trainer Kevin Cunningham guiding his charge Devon Alexander inside the confines of Barry?s Boxing on the East Side of Las Vegas. Alexander is the undefeated IBF and WBC Jr. Welterweight champion of the world and is gearing up for an August 7th showdown with former champion Andriy Kotelnik.
Cunningham has known Alexander for over fifteen years dating back to their time together in St. Louis, where they still reside. Cunningham helped guide Alexander in the right path as a youth and takes gratification in knowing that his friend was able to stay away from the street life that consumed so many people around him. While St. Louis will always be home you can tell that Cunningham appreciates the break to Nevada that comes with their training camps.
?I?ve been coming to Las Vegas to train fighters since 1999,? Cunningham told Examiner. ?I just love the atmosphere. It?s like as second home to me. Coming out here you get good sparring and the chance to get away from home. Running up Mount Charlestown. It?s just a great atmosphere and it?s the boxing capital of the world.?
From start to finish a training camp is typically a grueling, drawn out process full of dedication, patience, and extreme focus. Now a little over three weeks away from their HBO date at the Savvis Center, the duo finds themselves in the thick of things. Reflecting on what it takes to hone a fighter for battle, Cunningham seems to almost shake his head at the amount of work and detail that is required.
?Ideally you want to have a seven to eight week training camp,? he stated. ?You got to get in there early. I like to have an eight week training camp. You have to come in and break the fighter?s body down. You have to get used to going through the soreness stage and start the dieting for camp. Then you have to build the body back up and you go into you sparring stage. You get used to sparring. You get to your sharpness stage where you want your guy to start peaking. There is just all different kind of phases to a training camp.?
In Alexander we seem to have a blossoming fighter who has made great strides in recent years. Last August he surprised many by winning the WBC crown after forcing former champion Junior Witter to retire after eight rounds and he followed it up with an eight round destruction over Columbia?s Juan Urango earlier this year. Cunningham full realizes the potential of Alexander and admits that there is a certain amount of nurturing that comes with preparing a fighter.
?Definitely,? Cunningham stated. ?His conditioning gets better. He gets sharper. His rhythm, his timing. Each week you are supposed to get a little sharper and a little stronger. You want to peak just at the right time. You have to know what you are doing when you have a fighter in camp at the world class level.?
While a fight with Kotelnik may not be the fight that Team Alexander pushed for they still seem to understand how important the clash is. Far too often in the sport of boxing you will see fighters getting derailed because they get caught looking past their opponent but Cunningham insists that Kotelnik is not someone to take lightly.
?I think he?s a solid, top ten, 140 pounder,? Cunningham said respectfully of the Ukrainian. ?Who could deny that? He is a 2000 Olympic silver medalist. He?s the former WBA champion. He beat Marcos Maidana. He lost his title to Amir Khan but Amir Khan basically pity-patted and ran all night in his fight. In Amir Khan?s hometown he won a decision over Kotelink, it?s not like he beat Kotelnik up or anything. What we plan to do is really make a statement and do some damage.?
Khan?s name comes up a lot when discussing the best matchups available at 140 pounds. The Lancashire fighter?s trainer Freddie Roach has been adamant about Khan having the ability to defeat the upper echelon fighters near his weight class, Alexander included. Khan?s May 15th TKO over Paulie Malignaggi was a testament to his skill level as he thoroughly dominated the brash Brooklyn fighter but Cunningham isn?t overly impressed.
?I think he is a decent fighter,? Cunningham claimed. ?To me he still has a lot of amateurish things he is doing in there. He still kind of fights like a top level amateur. He?s a pro but I see a lot of amateur in his style.?
Cunningham went on to say that the best fighter currently in the sport in undefeated Floyd Mayweather, but that he couldn?t see his man getting a fight like that right away because they are still working towards that goal. More than anything Cunningham has had his eyes on WBO kingpin Timothy Bradley, who fights this weekend in a Welterweight clash against power punching Carlos Abregu on HBO. Alexander?s side had been clamoring for that matchup to come about and Cunningham seems baffled at Bradley?s actions.
?First of all I have only saw Abregu fight once so I am not sure,? Cunningham said when breaking down the matchup. ?It?s their decision if that?s what they want to do but 140 is one of the most exciting divisions in boxing and I don?t understand why you would want to dibble and dabble anywhere else when you are a champion at 140.?
Taking the interview further, Cunningham pointed to an article by ESPN?s Dan Rafael which highlighted HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg?s desires towards making more beneficial fights for his network. On Greenburg?s wish list is a tentative January 2011 Alexander vs. Bradley face off and the news is music to Cunningham?s ears.
?I would like to see that happen. I?m in agreement with Ross. The best fighters need to fight in those kind of fights that the fans want to see. They want to see the best fight each other. If Tim Bradley takes care of business on July 17th and Devon takes care of business on August the 7th I think it would be a great idea to have Alexander-Bradley January 29th, the first mega fight of 2011. Team Alexander is all on board with that.?
