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IBF welterweight titleholder Devon Alexander may face Amir Khan in December of this year, if Richard Schaefer's stated plan stays on course, but the 26-year-old St. Louis native believes he's ready for Floyd Mayweather now, and stated his case last night after his win over Lee Purdy.
"He wants to fight the best. I think I'm one of the best at 147. ... I haven't had no easy fight since [Juan] Urango, since Junior Witter. I fought ranked guys, not cherry-picked guys, no bums. I fought all top-notch guys, so why not? That's how I see it.
"I've been boxing since I was 7 years old. What makes Floyd better than me?" he said. "He's been on top probably longer than me, but I got skills, I'm fast just like him, and if you notice, any slick fighter he has problems with. Just throwing it out there. We'll see."
Mayweather (44-0, 26 KO) is, of course, considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, so the question, "What makes Floyd better than me?" likely either got a laugh or an eye roll out of you. It's not Devon's fault, really. It's just that nobody considers him on the Mayweather level; I'm not sure anyone considers anyone in the surrounding weight classes truly on the Mayweather level.
That said, if Floyd does fight in September, and it's not Canelo Alvarez across the ring, and it's not Amir Khan, then sure, Devon is probably the third option. Floyd floated the idea earlier this year when they were making believe that maybe Robert Guerrero wouldn't be the May 4 opponent. To say that Mayweather-Alexander was met with indifference would be to ignore the cries that the fight sucked, but I can't honestly say that I think Devon has any worse a shot than Guerrero had going in. They're about the same level, and style-wise, maybe Devon's speed really can make a significant difference. Guerrero, who is slow on that level, said he felt he was "just missing" -- maybe Devon can "just connect."
All I'm saying is that the market for Mayweather opponents isn't exactly robust right now, and Alexander (25-1, 14 KO) is honestly, I think, a better option than Khan, and arguably the second-best fight out there, after Canelo, among those who are actually available (everyone not with Top Rank, and frankly, mostly just guys with Golden Boy).