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KEVIN CUNNINGHAM COMMENTS ON DEVON ALEXANDER'S PAIN KILLER ADDICTION; CONFIDENT HE'S BACK AND HUNGRY TO INSPIRE

By Ben Thompson | September 27, 2016
KEVIN CUNNINGHAM COMMENTS ON DEVON ALEXANDER'S PAIN KILLER ADDICTION; CONFIDENT HE'S BACK AND HUNGRY TO INSPIRE

"I knew something wasn't right with him, but I was thinking it was like some kind of health issue or something going on with him...I was devastated...He had always been a squeaky clean guy and for him to let himself fall into this type of situation, it kind of blew my mind, but it just goes to show that it can happen to anybody...his body looks back strong again. He shows up on the runs before I get there. He's at the gym before I am. He's back being his old self again. He's hungry again. You can see the hunger," stated Kevin Cunningham, world-class trainer of multi-division former world champion Devon Alexander, who commented on his fighter's addiction to pain killer, his rehab process, and his desire to inspire others by getting back in the mix of the welterweight division. Check it out!

BT: Kevin, obviously you already know that Devon spoke to me about his addiction to pain killers. What was your initial reaction when he came to you with that news?

KC: Well, I tell you Ben, my first reaction, I knew something wasn't right with him, but I was thinking it was like some kind of health issue or something going on with him. When he called me and told me that he had something to talk to me about and that he's been dealing with for the last almost 3 years, I went over to house. He asked me to come by his house because he wanted to talk to me face to face. So I went by house and he told me that he had been dealing with pain killer addiction and that he had to be rushed to the hospital because he kind of had like a little mini-seizure and he knew then he had to come clean. When he told me this, he was talking and I was devastated. The devastating part of it for me was the fact that here's a guy that had never drank a beer before in his life; don't hang out, he don't party, and he's the last person on planet Earth I thought that I would be having to deal with having a substance abuse problem. That's what was so devastating. He had always been a squeaky clean guy and for him to let himself fall into this type of situation, it kind of blew my mind, but it just goes to show that it can happen to anybody. It was just like unbelievable.

BT: Like you said, he's been dealing with this for nearly 3 years and you sensed that something was right about him. Looking back on that time, was a gradual process when you started noticing the changes? Were there signs that made it clear to you that something was going on?

KC: Oh definitely! I been saying something's going on with him. For the last 2 1/2 years, I've been telling Devon, "It's something going on with you." I've had Devon go to doctors. I've had over 5 doctors look at Devon and give him full physicals to just try and see what was going on because we thought it was some kind of heart murmur type of situation going on with him, but they would always come back and say he's got a clean bill of health and they don't see anything wrong. Obviously I noticed a decline in his performances and the way he performed in the gym in sparring. I've had him looked at by 4 or 5 different doctors just to try and see if there's a health issue going on. One doctor came back and said his adrenal glands were a little low, so they gave him some supplements for that, but other than that, it was just a clean bill of health every time we've had him looked at by a doctor. So it was just mind-boggling because I'm like, "Okay, the doctors are saying that this guy is 28 years old and they don't really see anything wrong with him." I'm looking at him and he'll come to the gym one day and look sharp, and then he'll come to the gym 2 days later and look like shit. So I'm like, "What the hell is going on?"

I've hired nutritionists, I've hired strength trainers, I've done everything you can possibly do to bring everything together and give him the best chance of being successful and enhance his whole game in every aspect, from a nutritionist to strength trainer to speed and agility trainer. But then, with doing all of that, we've been getting these sub-par performances and it's like something ain't right. Because here's a kid that was one of the best amateurs in the world, one of the best professional prospects in the game, and then he was one of the best welterweights in the division, and then by the age of 27, stuff is starting to look like it's declining. He's never been knocked out, he's never been beaten up real bad in a fight, so it's not from ring damage or anything like that, so what in the hell is going on? That's what was going on in my mind, so that's what I've been so frustrated about the last 3 years.

And then, I've constantly told Devon in the gym...after I had him checked out by all these doctors, I bring in strength trainers, I bring in nutritionists, all kind of specialists that worked with us, and he still is not looking sharp and strong, so I'm telling him, "Something ain't right!" For the last year, about the last year and half, I've been telling him, "You know what, bruh. Something ain't right and it's something you ain't telling me! It's something going on with you that you are not telling me, and you know what it is, but you ain't telling me." He denied and denied. I mean, he been with me since he was 8 years old. It had got to the point where he started making excuses. Devon has always been the first one to show up at the gym, last one to leave, but these last couple of years, you know, he would skip the gym for any reason. He would come up with a reason, "Aw, I can't make it to the gym." I'm like, "Nah, something ain't right here." This dude lives in the gym, loves to spar, and these last couple of years, he hasn't been that guy, so I knew something wasn't right, but I didn't know what it was and that's what's so frustrating. Because I've dealt with fighters in the past who had issues and were putting stuff in their bodies that they wasn't supposed to, but I knew it what it was and when they started to look back and their game fell off, I knew what to point to, but with this deal here, I didn't know what the fuck was going on. So that's why it was so frustrating.

BT: He explained to me how that incident scared him straight, he went into rehab, and he's been drug free for awhile now. I know you guys have been back in the gym for a couple of months. Can you tell the difference in him now?

KC: Oh yeah! Oh yeah! Definitely! First of all, his body looks back strong again. He shows up on the runs before I get there. He's at the gym before I am. He's back being his old self again. He's hungry again. You can see the hunger. Some of the guys that he sparred with the last couple of years preparing for fights, he sparred with them in the recent months and they're like, "Damn! Whatever it was, he got it out his system." He's back to looking sharp, you know, blazing up the sparring. These are guys that...when he was on the pain killers, guys that shouldn't even be in the ring with him were hanging with him in sparring, but now he's sparring back with some of those same guys and he's doing what he's supposed to be doing to them and they're acknowledging, "Yeah, he's back sharp; looking like his old self again." So he's definitely looking like his old self. He's training, working hard; good, strong, I see his reflexes are back. He's working his ass off.

The sad part about it is it's hard out here, man. It's a hard game we in. In order to get to a certain level, somebody's gotta be working their ass off to get you there; everything's got to go right, and then to see someone shoot themselves in the foot, it's frustrating. That being said, I done research and this pain killer situation is a huge epidemic. I mean, it's so huge, I heard Hillary Clinton talking about it just last week. We got a lot of athletes, we got a lot of people that are getting hooked on prescription pain killer drugs. These doctors are just writing these prescriptions and these people are getting addicted. It's a huge epidemic. I hate it had to happen to Devon, but it could happen to anybody. If you ain't careful, you can have a surgery and like he explained it to me, he said, "Yeah, I had that surgery and you know me, I ain't never had no drug because I ain't never had surgery. That stuff had me feeling so good, I would just start taking it when I ain't even need it." Before you know it, you're hooked. But like I told Devon, he can turn this thing around. He could inspire a lot of people if he comes back and gets back in the mix in the top of the division; win a title, you know, and he can inspire a lot of people that are hooked on pain killers or drugs in general and let them know that they can kick it and get themselves back together and get their life back on track. You just gotta be dedicated to getting yourself together and the first step is to own it. By opening up to you and giving you an exclusive interview on something this personal let's me know that his mind is on the right track. He's owning it. He's letting his family know, his fans, his team, letting everybody know; he's giving the explanation to these lackluster performances in the last few years.

BT: How do you plan on moving forward with his career at this point?

KC: Well, I mean, we know what it was. We know why he performed in such a lackluster manner. But even under the influence...I mean, he fought Randall Bailey under the influence of pain killers. He fought Shawn Porter under the influence of pain killers. He fought Amir Khan under the influence of pain killers. Those guys should have stopped him. Now, if he's coming in here and he's gone through the whole rehab process, he's cleaned himself up, he's looking sharp in the gym, I mean, I don't see the need for him to come back with some no-name guy. To me, that does him no good. If he comes back and looks sharp with some no-name guy, you gonna get the "so-what" effect. Okay, so what, that's what he's supposed to do. But there's guys that are in the "need to rebound" position, just like Devon, and those are the guys that I would like to see him come back with. The Chris Algieri's, the Robert Guerrero's, Victor Ortiz, the Josesito Lopez; names like that. Those are the type of guys I'd like to see him come back with.

BT: Do you anticipate getting him back in the ring before the end of the year?

KC: I mean, I hope so. Come October, it'll be a year he's been out of the ring, so I'm hoping we can get something before the year is out! I'm sure you, the media, everybody was just befuddled when you see a guy who was one of the elite fighters and the bottom just falls out. Something's not right with that. Normally when you see a fighter that his skills diminish and he's not the same, it comes from a vicious beating or a vicious fight that he was in and it just took so much out of him that he was never the same. Devon's been in some good fights, but he had such a good skill set, he never really took a whole lot of punishment, even in the fights he lost. Seeing him showing up and having these lackluster performances, you know something's wrong and people want answers. Well, you know, he finally came clean. It took him 2 1/2 years, almost 3 years, but hey, he finally came clean, he's owning it, he's in the gym working hard and we're ready to get a date, get back in the ring, and get his career back going. Nobody's really taken over the 147-pound division. Nobody's grabbed the bull by the horn and ran away with it, so if Devon comes back and gets a win, he's right back in the mix to fight any of these guys.



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