Rayco Saunders learned a lesson in his last bout, an education he plans to put to use tomorrow night at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center against the interestingly named and smartly dressed Knowledge Bey of Syracuse, N.Y.

            “I’m kind of upset that I didn’t get that decision in Philadelphia,” Saunders said of his loss three weeks ago to Imamu Mayfield, a former International Boxing Federation cruiserweight champion.  “I’m not looking to leave it to the judges in this fight.”

            Saunders, 29, lost April 23 at the Blue Horizon, where the crowd booed the judges’ unanimous decision. It was an impressive performance considering Saunders got penciled in to box Mayfield just who days before.

            “I won the fight.  Even the crowd felt that I won the fight,” Saunders said.  “They gave him the decision- There’s a lot of politics in that stuff.  If Imamu Mayfield, former champion, loses to me, a 9-2-1 nobody, it means his career.”

            Saunders’ career as a fighter began outside the ring.  He grew up in Northview Heights and St. Clair Village.  He bounced around three schools- Shenley, Allderdice, and Oliver- for brawling, though as he said, “I never actually started any fights.  But I was one of the guys who refused to be bullied on.”

            This itinerant lifestyle allowed Saunders, in his words, to “know basically everybody in the city,” hence he has friends and friends from across Pittsburgh.  Yet he remains true to Beltzhoover, inviting local youth baseball teams, football teams, and even cheerleaders to attend local boxing events, often after he found a business to sponsor their appearances.

            “My theory is, the reason why a lot of teenagers use guns is because they can’t fight,”  Saunders said, “If there were more gyms in the inner cities where young guys could learn to defend themselves, they wouldn’t be so fast to pick up a gun.”

            This theory has been tested with Saunders on either end. Once sentenced in 1997 for shooting at a Pittsburgh police officer, Saunders found himself on the other end of a gun in February. According to his promoter, former Allegheny County detective Jimmy Cvetic, an assailant tried to kill Saunders by putting a gun to Saunders’ car window and pulling the trigger… except there was no bullet in the chamber.

            Police arrested three men in connection with a foiled contract killing that targeted Saunders.  On tomorrow’s card, he shares billing with two African boxers residing in Beaver County: heavyweight Abraham Okine, known as the “African Assassin”; and junior welterweight Raymond Narh, a former Olympian making his Pittsburgh pro debut. The card also will include Chris Stallworth, nephew of Steelers Hall of Fame receiver John Stallworth.

            A cruiserweight the same as Saunders, this Stallworth played basketball at Brashear.  With that surname, though folks asked him about playing football.

            “All the time, I grew up like that, from elementary to middle school to high school to now,” said Stallworth, 28.  “But I was always infatuated with the ring.  I couldn’t wait to get out of school to go home, do my homework and be allowed to go to the Kay Boys Club [in the Hill District].

            “Now I have a burning desire to win a boxing championship.”