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Fightwriter: Alexander-Callist!

March 26, 2008

By Graham Houston

Up and coming junior welter Devon Alexander is featured in his home town of St. Louis on Don King’s inaugural internet show when he meets Panama’s seasoned Miguel Callist in an all-southpaw 12-rounder.

Alexander was workmanlike in his last fight when outpointing DeMarcus “Chop Chop” Corley in January, which was his first 12-rounder.

Callist, 33, is a good test for the unbeaten 21-year-old. A former lightweight title challenger, Callist has won six of his last seven fights but the fact that was stopped in all six of his losses indicates he is not the most durable of boxers.

I was ringside in Las Vegas when Callist fought the tough Mongolian, Lakva Sim, in a WBA 135-pound title fight four years ago. Callist was quick and classy, and he was winning on the scorecards after four rounds, but in the fifth Sim hurt him to the body and the Panamanian crumpled.

As Alexander is not a particularly hard hitter, it seems unlikely that Callist will get stopped early, if at all, so this should be a entertaining boxing match.

Obviously Alexander, purposeful and steady, is the clear favourite. He is the younger, unbeaten fighter, boxing at home and being groomed for big things. Still, I do not expect him to have it all his own way; Callist knows how to fight. If Alexander does get a stoppage win it will most likely come from an accumulation of punches, but I would not be at all surprised to see Callist go the full 12 rounds and put up a competitive showing.

Graham Houston has been a boxing writer for nearly five decades. Since his first weekly column in the South London Advertiser in the early 1960s to becoming editor of Boxing News in 1974 to his first fight covered in Las Vegas - Salvador Sanchez vs Wilfredo Gomez at Caesars Palace in August 1980 - Graham has endured the trials and tribulations of the boxing world to become the American Editor of Boxing Monthly in 1992. He is the author of Superfists: The story of the Heavyweight Champions (Bounty Books, 1975). Graham Houston is the quintessential boxing writer. His website the "FIGHTWRITER" focuses on fight previews and analysis.

Visit veteran boxing writer Graham Houston's FIGHTWRITER for the latest previews and Graham's fight odds!