By Norm Frauenheim
LAS VEGAS — The ring doesn’t look like much of a refuge. Ropes contain the violence within them. Step inside at your own peril. But Devon Alexander feels more fortunate than ever at his chance to be there Saturday night. It’s his shelter from the storm.
“With all the stuff in Ferguson – the rioting and everything going on, coming here is iike a vacation for me,’’ Alexander said Thursday during a news conference at the MGM Grand before his welterweight bout Saturday night with Amir Khan. “You know, having fun.
“All of that stuff going on back there is crazzzzy. So, I just want to thank everyone.’’
Crazzzzy, all right.
True, too.
Alexander grew up in St. Louis about 15 minutes from Ferguson, which erupted in flames after a grand jury did not indict a policeman for the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown.
The podium at a news conference is something of bully pulpit. It’s a chance to express an opinion, sell a point-of-view. But Alexander didn’t go there. He didn’t have to. Instead of more talk and more pontification, Alexander has a chance at something real rather than rhetorical.
He can win one for a community desperately in need of one. A sure sign of that intent was there in a Cardinal-red baseball cap stitched with the white SL initials. Alexander didn’t have to wear his heart on his sleeve. It was on his head.
“I want to bring all the positivity,’’ Alexander said in a conference call a couple of days before arriving in Las Vegas. “I know all of St. Louis is going to be looking at me from the Ferguson situation. They’re looking for something positive to come along with all of the rioting and everything like that.
“This win is going to make them feel like they won, too.’’
It’s an added dimension that dramatically multiplies Alexander’s personal stake in the Showtime-televised bout against the narrowly-favored Khan. For some fighters, that might mean more pressure. But not for Alexander, who grew up amid the real-life pressures of living in an impoverished neighborhood.
“Like I said, this is kind of fun, getting away from all of the madness, danger and rioting,’’ he told 15 Rounds after Thursday’s new conference. “All I have to do is focus on Amir.
“Compared to what’s going on in Ferguson, that’s a cakewalk.’’
Alexander’s trainer, Kevin Cunningham, is an ex-cop who grew up in Ferguson.
“Went to Ferguson Junior High and McCluer High School, which is in Ferguson,’’ Cunningham said in a conference call.
Cunningham didn’t attend Thursday’s news conference, because of slight illness, Golden Boy promoter Oscar De La Hoya said. Cunningham had announced plans to have Michael Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., at the fight. But it wasn’t clear Thursday whether he would be able to attend.
“We’ll represent St. Louis the way we always represent St. Louis,’’ Cunningham said Monday.
That means Alexander at his best and no frills attached.
His fight with Khan will be a study in stark contrasts. The UK media reported that Khan will wear designer trunks with 24-karat gold thread woven through the waist band. Off the rack, they’re not. Some reports placed the value at 30,000 pounds. That’s about $50,0000, or $15,000 more than Diego Chaves’ $35,000 purse for his HBO televised bout against Timothy Bradley in another significant welterweight bout Saturday night at The Cosmopolitan
“Where I come from, that’s a lot of money,’’ Alexander said. “It could be spent on something else. It’s not something I’d do. But I’m not flashy guy. I’m a simple man. I just want to show my skills.’’
He let his cap show his heart.
