Kevin Rooney Jr. steps into the ring
Kevin Rooney Senior (L) poses with son, Kevin Rooney. Credit: Star Boxing, Inc. handout
Like father, like son?
Kevin Rooney Jr.’s life has been all about boxing, but from the outside of the ring looking in. Whether he was helping his father, Kevin Rooney Sr., train fighters or as the lead public relations man for Star Boxing Inc. founder Joe DeGuardia, Kevin Jr. knows the ins and outs of the sport.
Now he’ll get the same first-hand experience the many boxers he has helped promote and train have. Rooney will make his pro debut as a junior middleweight on the undercard of DeGuardia’s Star Boxing ESPN “Friday Night Fights” at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, CT.
Rooney Sr., who his training and managing his son, says he’ll be ready.
"I'm very excited about him turning pro, and watching him develop," said Rooney Sr. "He is learning in there, you can see he is trying to take what I teach him and tell him and use it in the ring, and that is a good thing. He is a smart fighter, and he is very dedicated and disciplined, he trains very hard.”
Rooney Sr., who trained Mike Tyson and Vinny Pazienza and certainly knows a thing or two about boxing, had his son train with promising cruiserweight Nasi Hani in preparation for his first fight.
“[Nani] is 5-0 as a pro and had almost 100 amateur fights,” Rooney Sr. said. “After they got done sparring I asked Nasi how he was, and he was very impressed, when I told him that he would be fighting at only jr. middleweight and middleweight he almost couldn't believe it."
Headlining the card will be junior welterweights Bayan Jargal (15-1-3) and Breidis Prescott (23-2). Highly touted junior middleweight prospect Demetrius Andrade (12-0) will square off against Omar Bell (8-1) in another televised bout.
