Lamar Harris, Danny Williams also ‘Rumble’ well
By Glenn McBrady
For the St. Louis American
Round One Promotions staged a pro fight card dubbed the “Rumble By The River” last Thursday night at The Family Arena in St. Charles, and the biggest story resulted from the brilliant performances of several talented local boxers.
Kevin Cunningham was wearing several hats on the cool spring evening as president and CEO of Round One, as well as the trainer and manager of a group of fighters with world championship potential.
Ring announcer Peter Vaccaro was wearing a pristine white dinner jacket as he slid through the ropes to start the show. After some brief opening remarks, he relayed a message from Cunningham to the audience, praising the St. Louis American for the newspaper’s relentless coverage of pro and amateur boxing.
Cunningham then took his place in the blue corner as his fighter Lamar Harris waited impatiently to make his professional debut at middleweight. It was obvious from the opening bell that the rookie’s adrenaline was surging. Harris showed good foot movement and ring generalship as he punished his opponent Isa Ali with a balanced attack, punctuating the first round with a double left hook to the body and head that deflated his opponent.
It was more of the same in the second round, and after Harris landed a huge left hook to the head, Ali sought shelter by turtling under his gloves and bending forward. Referee Marvin Elam had seen enough and waved off the bout at 2:41 of the stanza.
Lightweight Danny Williams put in a heavyweight performance against Tony McKenny, using his jab on the way in the front door to set up a quick accumulation of body shots. McKenny wore a “Tyson towel” into the ring, a hotel bath towel with a hole cut in the center like a poncho, but he was unable to summon the power or intimidation of the ear-chomping former champ.
The fighters were just above me in a neutral corner when Williams slashed at McKenny’s ribcage with a right hook, sending him down. He got up to his knees but waited until the count of ten to stand, a sure sign that he had seen enough of Williams.
Former welterweight ruler Cory Spinks was in attendance and providing encouragement as his friend and stablemate Devon Alexander emerged from a rolling curtain of fog and flashing lights to continue his campaign at welterweight against John Rudolph.
Devon began the fight by flashing his lightning-quick jab, but Rudolph showed some elusive head movement, prompting Cunningham to command his fighter to focus on the body. Alexander rattled Rudolph with several jab, cross, hook combinations and took the first round convincingly.
In round two, you could see the wheels in Devon’s head turning as he concocted a combination in his mind and then executed the attack, lighting up Rudolph like a Christmas tree. The end came at 1:01 of the third when Alexander used a pair of double jab, straight left combinations to drop his overmatched opponent, nearly sending the hurt fighter through the ropes and into judge Marty Bickle’s lap.
Devon bounced from one ring post to another, scaling the ropes and basking in the cheers from an audience that included luminaries from all walks of life. The only thing brighter than the lights in the arena was the wattage of Alexander’s smile.
It was a great night for a rising group of fighters taking their first steps on their way up the pro boxing ladder.
