By Lindy Lindell (main event) and Brad Snyder (undercard)
Photos: Bob Ryder

From Leonardo Tyner’s first fight, his style of fighting hasn’t changed a whit. Twenty seconds of energetic haymakers and two minutes of relative inactivity. Within those bursts, he is probably Motown’s most exciting fighter. But waiting for those bursts is probably the informed Detroit boxing spectators’ most frustrating experience. It was no different in the main event contest on promoter Greg Ahrens and matchmaker Carlos Llinas’ “Night of Knockouts” show.

Against junior-middle prospect Winford Harris, also a Detroiter, and now (14-0, 8 KO’s) with his solid 8-round win at Detroit’s MotorCity Casino-Hotel, Tyner (32-11-2, 20 KO’s) continued his stop-start pattern of twenty seconds of action and two minutes of nothing-much, and he found himself looking at a big-points loss through the wrong end of a telescope. The judges scored it by a wide margin, 79-73, 79-74, and a somewhat close 77-74. Fightnews had trouble giving Tyner a single round, 80-73, though he might have scored a knockout or at least a knockdown in the second had he gone into his punch-burst twenty seconds before the end of the round rather than ten.

Harris stumbled noticeably from a Tyner left hook just a few seconds before the bell gonged ending the second. Harris supporters were concerned: the cry of “He hurt!” rang out among them. Harris acknowledged in the ring after the fight that he had been buzzed, but “I rolled through that,” he said.

For Harris, a junior-middleweight, he passed his first test of any consequence with a nicely done Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier III imitation of stabbing and moving, and he flashed enough power to stop the never-kayoed Tyner in his tracks so that he had trouble re-igniting those twenty-second bursts. Harris had the advantage of weight (Tyner is a really a welterweight at best.), height (Tyner was kidded about being so much shorter than Harris that it was suggested at the weigh-in that he need to stand on a chair so that photographers could take a picture of them at the fight-stare that marks the tradition of the modern-day weigh-in.) and reach (Harris out jabbed his man a ton.)

This was a fight between fighters going in opposite directions. Tyner, a good guy and always smiling, told me five years ago in the same venue that he would be fighting for five more years; as for Harris, his career is before him: he has the tools of good height, speed, and fair power that is hard to gauge since the rock-solid Tyner has never been stopped.

Undercard Results

Undefeated, top prospect, John Chalbeck, improved to (7-0, 5 KO’s) beating a very tough opponent in Rick Morais (2-7). Chalbeck took this fight at a catch weight of 158 lbs. Around the local Detroit gyms, Morais has a reputation of being a good opponent, with taking fights out of state and always being well prepared. From the start, both fighters came out throwing blows. At the end of the 2nd Round, it looked as if Chalbeck might be able to finish him. But the bell rang before he could. We saw Morais coming out strong in the 3rd. With Chalbeck hitting with big right hands, the punches had Morais shaking them off, as if they did not hurt him at all. The final round concluded a no clinching fight, as Morais landed some solid body work and Chalbeck continued with big rights. Chalbeck won by UD, as the judges had it (39-37, 39-37, 40-36).

Former Golden Gloves National Champion, Isiah Jones (4-0, 3 KO’s) got some work in against Carlos Dixon (1-10, 1 KO). Jones used Dixon as a punching bag, up against the ropes. Jones, in control of the fight from the start, won the middleweight contest by UD (60-54, 60-54, 60-54).

Darryl Cunningham continued to lay claim that Motor City Casino Sound Board is his home. A fixture at promoter, Greg Ahrens’ and matchmaker, Carlos Llinas’ shows in Detroit, Cunningham was able to control a middleweight fight against Lenwood Dozier, that did not have much action. Finally, in the 5th Round of the 6-Round middleweight bout, the crowd got some. All of the judges ended up scoring the bout (59-55, 59-55, 59-55) in favor of Cunningham, who improves to (36-9, KO’s) as Dozier falls to (10-18-2 Draws, 5 KO’s).

Ray Darden, who turns 52 years of age next month, hyped the crowd by jokingly using a walker to help assist himself to the ring. Darden was on a slow ring walk path to his rematch with Eric Moon in the light heavyweight division. The fight saw Eric Moon arguing with Referee Steve Daher, more than trying to figure out a way to beat Darden, whom he previously lost to. Moon complaining of low blows seemed frustrated, as Darden did send Moon twice to the canvas. The judges had the fight (59-53, 60-53, 58-56) all in favor of Darden (13-24, 4 KO’s). Eric Moon, who seemed to have lost that spark that made in a tough opponent in the past, falls to (3-12).

Middleweight Sinan Fradi (3-0-1NC, 3 KO’s) punished Rakim Johnson (1-6, 1 KO) over three rounds of what was scheduled to be a 4 Round bout. Fradi knocked down Johnson once in the 1st Round and three times in the 3rd. Referee Patrick Schmidt called the fight to a halt with the three-knockdown rule at the 2:59 mark of the 3rd Round.

In the heavyweight bout of the night, Robert Simms continues to impress the local area with his defensive style and quickness for a big guy. Simms (5-1, 3 KO’s) facing Henry Wright (0-2) used a left hand to send Wright to the canvas in the 2nd. The 3rd Round was dominated by Simms, as Wright had no answer to the left hand. Simms was able to connect in the 4th, sending Wright to the canvas head first. Wright was unable to answer the call of Referee Steve Daher. The TKO victory at the 2:30 mark of the 4th Round, shows that Simms has versatility with defense, power, and the ability to box.

Cortez Chambliss was a violent storm in a very small ring at Sound Board, Friday night. This violent storm was bad news for welterweight, Thomas Amaro. Chambliss threw a devastating left hook to the liver to send Amaro down in the 1st Round. The second knockdown of Amaro was set up by a body shot with a head shot by Chambliss. The third and final knockdown was more of a result of Amaro (3-13-1 Draw, 2 KO’s) being hurt early as Cortez (3-0, 3 KO’s) won the bout early with a 1:20 1st Round KO.

Detroiter, Bobby Tucker, won his pro debut (1-0, 1 KO) by quickly discarding Marcus Wheeler (0-6) at the 1:30 mark of the 2nd Round. The middleweight bout did little to show us what we may have in the future from Tucker. He had Wheeler stumbling and often times looking as if he did not want to be in the ring that night.

The 10th Edition of Night of Knockouts at the Motor City Casino Sound Board was sold out. Promoter Greg Ahrens and matchmaker Carlos Llinas have found a venue that allows the fans to feel as if they are on top of the action. In attendance were some members of Detroit’s boxing royalty with Thomas “Hitman” Hearns and Jackie Kallen.