Though many cities were thrown around as possible hosts, including Las Vegas, Washington D.C. and New Orleans, the January 29 junior welterweight title unification fight between Timothy Bradley and Devon Alexander will take place in Alexander's native St. Louis, according to FanHouse's Lem Satterfield.
Chaifetz Arena on the campus of Saint Louis University will play host, rather than the Scottrade Center, where most of the bigger St. Louis fights are usually held. The Scottrade is not out because of a St. Louis Blues home game, which was my original guess. The Blues are on the road for a bit there, playing a final home game on the 26th of January before returning on February 1. No, the Scottrade is booked for Sesame Street Live: Elmo's Healthy Heroes.
Move aside, prizefighters. Elmo has a cape.
Alexander (21-0, 13 KO) is coming off of a rough and debated win at home over Andriy Kotelnik in August, while Bradley (26-0, 11 KO) won easily but without much by way of fireworks against Luis Carlos Abregu in July, a fight he stepped up to welterweight to make happen. Alexander drew a relatively big crowd for the Kotelnik fight (around 10,000), and should be expected to pull in a solid number against Bradley. This fight has been talked up big, and local coverage in St. Louis for Alexander is really pretty good. KSDK in St. Louis has been a big supporter of Alexander's career, giving him a lot more local coverage than most American fighters receive anymore. Everyone in St. Louis will understand that this is a big fight for their hometown man, and that Timothy Bradley is a world-class, elite-level opponent.
HBO will televise the bout as a headliner for World Championship Boxing. As of now, there is nothing set as a co-feature.