Bob Arum said Julio Cesar Chavez could fight Brian Vera next, and eventually, Andre Ward.
Trainer eyes IBF shot for Alexander
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Devon Alexander wants to fight Andre Berto, Paulie Malignaggi or unbeaten Selcuk Aydin. Former WBC/IBF junior welterweight titleholder Devon Alexander, having climbed into the welterweight division, wants a bout with newly-crowned IBF welterweight beltholder Andre Berto, former IBF junior welterweight titleholder Paulie Malignaggi or unbeaten Selcuk Aydin, his trainer, Kevin Cunningham, told RingTV.com on Monday. Alexander recently signed with Golden Boy Promotions, whose CEO, Richard Schaefer, would like to put together a 147-pound tournament either on HBO or Showtime. Berto is coming off of a fifth-round knockout that dethroned Jan Zaveck (31-2, 18 KOs) on Sept. 3 and helped him to rebound from a unanimous decision loss to Victor Ortiz (29-3-2, 22 KOs) that dethroned him as WBC beltholder in April. Ortiz, himself, was dethroned as WBC titleholder after a fourth-round knockout loss to seven-time, five-division beltwinner Floyd Mayweather Jr. (42-0, 26 KOs) on Sept. 17. Next in the WBC's rankings is Alexander, who is rated ahead Aydin at No. 3. Aydin is slated for a rematch with fifth-ranked Jo Jo Dan (29-1, 16 KOs) on Nov. 19; this, after having won by split-decision over Dan on June of last year. Malignaggi is at No. 9. "We want Berto or Malignaggi. Berto's a champion, and Malignaggi is a ranked fighter with name recognition. If a fight with Berto or Malignaggi can't be made, then we want to pursue Aydin for the WBC's mandatory spot," said Cunningham. "Anything other than that makes no mother f--king sense. As a matter of fact, Devon moved to welterweight to challenge the best welterweights in the world. Anything other than that makes no sense. The ultimate goal is to get to Floyd Mayweather, but we're willing to take the necessary steps to get there." In January, Alexander lost his WBC belt by 11th-round technical decision to WBO and WBC junior welterweight titleholder Tim Bradley (27-0, 11 KOs). He bounced back with last month's narrow 10-round decision win over hard-hitting Lucas Matthysse (28-2, 26 KOs).
Lem Satterfield can be reached at lem.satterfield@gmail.com
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