Devon Alexander was 7 when his mom gave in and let him join the new boxing program in his downtrodden neighborhood. He came home the first day crying, his nose bloodied from a sparring session with his friend Terrance Barker.

Fifteen years later, Alexander is the WBC 140-pound world champion.

And Barker, like so many of Alexander's childhood friends, is dead.

Of the 30 young boys who joined Alexander day after day at that gym in the basement of the old police station, at least eight are gone forever. Another 10 are in prison or have spent time behind bars _ including Alexander's own brother.

The beauty of sports is in its power to inspire, with life-changing tales of triumph over adversity. Boxing didn't simply alter Alexander's life, though. It might very well have saved it.

"I think about that every day, why did God choose me? Why am I it?" Alexander said, standing a stone's throw from a makeshift memorial to one of his old pals. "Most of the people that grow up in the 'hood don't believe they can make it. They just think that's all there is to life.

"And I'm a living witness that that's not true."

Hyde Park in North St. Louis is the type of place that fosters despair, not dreams. Hundreds of once-proud rowhouses have been abandoned, the boards that cover their doors and windows an admission that no one will be calling them home anytime soon. Vacant lots abound and businesses are few and far between. Money is scarce, opportunities even more so.

Alexander recognized early on that he was starting with a disadvantage. He remembers seeing people taking and selling drugs before he was old enough to comprehend what that meant. He remembers noticing the sudden absence of older people in the neighborhood and realizing they'd been locked up _ or worse. He remembers hearing gunfire, and his mom's command to "hit the deck."

"I remember me standing by our complex one time, I walked out and there was a guy laying dead right there, by the side of my house," Alexander said. "I remember seeing that and I was like, 'Man.'"

Even home provided little sanctuary, what with 13 kids in the family, his dad working at a grocery store and his mom as a day-care provider.

"It wasn't like we wasn't a happy family, it was just the situation we was in," he said. "Minimum wage, 13 kids, how far can you make it with that?"

And while he liked school, and was a good student, Alexander can't tell you what he dreamed of being when he grew up. Doctor? Lawyer? Police officer? Kids in his situation couldn't afford to think that far ahead.