Vaughn Alexander Makes The Most Of His Second Chance
By: Sean Crose
Middleweight Vaughn Alexander, like all of us, has made his share of mistakes. By serving over half a decade in prison, the sibling of former champion Devon Alexander cost himself a lot of prime years in the boxing ring. Now out of the department of corrections’ custody and back in society for a good chunk of time, however, the once heralded Alexander has found himself with a real opportunity to get back into the spotlight. For this Saturday at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut, the 7-0 Alexander will be facing the 14-3-9 Andres Calixto Rey in a bout which will be broadcast live on HBO Latino.
Truth be told, Alexander, who has fought and won on two occasions since being released from prison, wasn’t supposed to find himself on television this weekend. With the scheduled co-main event on the HBO Latino card falling through, however, the thirty-one year old Saint Louis native was placed in a great position to showcase his second chance at ring glory. “I started this a long time ago and had some mishaps years ago,” Alexander said during a Thursday press conference. “I put the work in to display my talents and get to this place.”
Fans will now get a chance to see if those talents will enable Alexander to get the next level. A victory over Rey, who is riding a winning streak of several fights in a row, may do wonders for Alexander’s career, if it’s achieved in impressive fashion. Promoter Kathy Duva made it clear she feels Alexander has what it takes to connect with audiences. “When he fought on the last Rising Stars card,” she claimed, “no one knew who he was. I have never seen a fighter connect with the crowd so quickly.” Rising Stars is, fittingly enough, the title of a series of fight cards Duva’s Main Events Promotions is running with Mohegan Sun.
For his part, Alexander appears eager to live up to the series’ title. “This will be Vaughn’s first 10-round professional fight,” Duva said. “It was originally scheduled for eight rounds but when we needed to move the fight to television, Vaughn didn’t think twice about the additional rounds.” Having once been a welterweight, Alexander has made it clear he wants to battle his way to the top of the lucrative middleweight division.
“I am just one step closer to taking over this middleweight division,” he stated. “I am ready to fight whoever, wherever.”