By Jason Kim: Former IBF/WBC light welterweight champion Devon Alexander (22-1, 13 KO’s) has been given a very generous #2 ranking by the World Boxing Council in the welterweight division after the 24-year-old Alexander recently moved up in weight to try and campaign at this weight level.

Alexander recently labored to a questionable 10 round decision over Lucas Matthysse last June. Following that fight, Alexander said he was moving up in weight because it was too difficult for him to make the 140 pound light welterweight limit.

He was weakening himself trying to make the weight. This would partly explain his poor showing against Andriy Kotelnik last year in August and his terrible performance in losing to Timothy Bradley last June. Honestly, Alexander appeared to lose his last three fights and not just the Bradley bout.

Alexander is ranked just below Floyd Mayweather Jr. by the WBC rankings and wants to get a shot at the winner of the Mayweather vs. Victor Ortiz bout. That’s highly unlikely because Alexander isn’t a huge draw and two of his last three fights have ended end controversy.

But he’s still hoping that Mayweather or Ortiz will elect to fight him next. If not, Alexander is looking to take on a top 10 welterweight, someone like Paulie Malignaggi or Matthew Hatton, according to ringtv.

It’s not likely that Alexander will get either of those guys. Hatton wants to fight the WBA welterweight champion Vyacheslav Senchenko, while Malignaggi seems to be taking the easy route to a title shot by fighting 2nd tier welterweights rather than contenders.

Malignaggi probably won’t want to risk getting beaten again and end up having to go back to the end of the line. Alexander would be better off fighting rematches with Matthysse and Kotelnik outside of his home state so there’s no issues of complaints of Alexander winning home town decisions.