St. Louisan Devon Alexander may not be coming off the best fight of his life Saturday night. But nonetheless, he left Scottrade Center with both of his championship belts, his perfect record intact and still in line for a bout that could change his life.

Alexander's 12-round, unanimous-decision victory over challenger Andriy Kotelnik, a fight in which all three judges had Alexander winning 116-112, kept him the reigning World Boxing Council and International Boxing Federation champ in the 140-pound division. He improved his record to 21-0.

It wasn't the overwhelming statement that many figured Alexander would make in his hometown, where a crowd of 9,117 cheered him on. But trainer Kevin Cunningham said that more could be gained with the way Alexander prevailed. And, Cunningham added, the fact that Alexander won perhaps unconvincingly might entice division co-champ Timothy Bradley to agree to a matchup that has been heavily speculated.

"We all know … anybody that's ever seen Devon fight before knows that it wasn't his best performance," Cunningham said. "But that happens; sometimes you go in there and things don't go as planned … certain things that work most of the time aren't working, and you've got to find a way to still win. And that's what he did.

"I think that's the mark of a true champion."

With the victory, Alexander is expecting an opportunity to add to his collection of championship belts. Seconds after the fighter's win over Kotelnik was announced Saturday, Alexander's camp broke out T-shirts that read: "BRADLEY, U NEXT."

Alexander owns two of the belts — the WBC and the IBF in the 140-pound division. Bradley, undefeated at 26-0, has the 140-pound belt in the World Boxing Organization.

"I want Bradley next," Alexander said. "He keeps talking that he's the best in the division. I want him next."

Cunningham also called for the fight to happen.

"The two best 140-pounders in the world … that's what the fans want to see," he said. "That's what Team Alexander wants to do, fight the best fighters. That's why we fought Kotelnik because the top fighters didn't want to fight Devon, so he was the next best thing."

The notion that Alexander might have struggled against Kotelnik, Cunningham said, should only help the fight get scheduled.

"With Devon's performance, I think Bradley might get a little more confidence and might want to take the fight," he said. "Let's hope that it gets done."

HBO Sports President Ross Greenburg has indicated the Alexander-Bradley matchup is a strong possibility, and that Jan. 29, the week before the Super Bowl, is a potential target date. Late Saturday night, Don King, Alexander's promoter, added to that speculation.

"That's a fight — it's on," King told ESPN.com. "Devon will fight anybody. Bradley is a good fighter. It would be a tremendous fight and it will be a defining fight for Devon. ... I think this would be a fight that would put one of them on top."

King said possible locations for the fight are St. Louis, New Orleans and even Washington, D.C., 'so we can take it to Obama."

Cunningham said he wasn't ready to speculate on the location but noted that Alexander's fight against Kotelnik attracted nearly 10,000 fans in St. Louis and that Bradley's last fight last month against Luis Carlos Abregu near Bradley's hometown in Southern California drew 2,400.

"So why would we go there?" Cunningham said.

There is interest from Bradley's camp.

"Great chance of making the fight," Bradley's promoter, Gary Shaw, told ESPN.com Saturday. "Now that (HBO commentator) Max Kellerman anointed Devon as the No. 1 guy at 140, we will now have Timmy show Max that the only thing great about Devon is his moniker (Alexander "The Great").

Shaw added: "If a very slow Kotelnik can keep hitting Alexander, can you imagine how many times Timmy will hit him, and the damage that Timmy will do to him?"

Alexander wasn't apologizing for his narrow victory Saturday, and he promised to come back stronger.

"It wasn't my best performance," he said. "It was a C- performance for me. But we're just going to go back to the drawing board and continue to learn, take what went wrong tonight and see what we can improve on. Each and every fight, I'm getting better and better, so thanks for coming out and we're going to continue to do big things."