Marvelous Mykquan Williams, 26, has earned a living as a professional boxer since he was an 18-year-old studying plumbing at Prince Tech in Hartford.
“I liked soldering,” Williams told me. “I was really good at it.”
Both endeavors require intense concentration, involve various moving parts and pose great risks, if not the certainty, of injury. The prospects of burning oneself with a welding tool at many hundreds of degrees or getting your head and body battered by fierce opponents can be good motives to focus.
“I’ve never gotten to a point where I was hurt and wobbled or didn’t know where I was. I’ve been hit hard but I’ve been able to shake it off.” Williams said. “You’ve got to outsmart the guy. I feel like my speed and counter-punching make the difference.
“The length of a fight is time for me to figure out an opponent and outsmart him.”
It also helps if you knew since you were a kid this is what you wanted. Williams has had the same basic training schedule, Monday through Friday, since he was seven years old. He’s on a meal plan developed in part with a nutritionist. Mornings now start with strength and conditioning with a personal trainer. Evenings are at the boxing gym: jumping rope, sparring, more strength training. He enjoys running distances of two to five miles.
With a record of 22 wins, zero defeats and two draws as a super lightweight, 140 pounds, the 5’ 6” Williams stands in view of the mountaintop as the Hartford area’s best hope for boxing greatness since the reign of welterweight champion Marlon Starling from 1987-90.
Three big wins for Williams in 2024 included a knockout of previously undefeated Luis Feliciano on ProBox TV in Plant City, FL. More explosive than the speed of his hand and foot movements were the power of his punches.
Williams’ quick hands and quick feet set up an even quicker overhand right and combinations that dropped Feliciano twice in the second round. The referee stopped the fight in round six after a ferocious right hook and combinations sent Feliciano to the canvas for a third time, leaving his record at 17 wins and one loss. Williams’ other two wins last year also were by knockout.
“He’s got his man strength now – teenage fighters don’t have their man strength,” said Lou DiBella, Williams’ promoter. “Before he could outbox you. Now he can hurt you.
“He’s a dream: low maintenance, bright, professional.”
The way Team Williams sees it, “Mykey” is about to enter the prime of his career. Those at the top of the division and others also on the way up have to weigh the risk in fighting this upstart.
“He was brought down to lose against Luis,” and we weren’t having that,” said Paul Cichon, Williams’ trainer and founder of Manchester Ring of Champions Boxing Club in 2011.
Iceman John Scully of Windsor has trained two light heavyweight champions – Bad Chad Dawson of New Haven and the current title holder, Artur Beterbiev of Canada, formerly of Russia. Scully, himself a former light heavyweight top contender, said Williams career is moving at a good pace.
“His next step could be to fight any guy actually ranked in the top ten,” Scully said.
Williams recently resumed serious training including sparring twice a week at the club, anticipating his next bout with someone who is highly-ranked or at the top in the alphabet soup of organizations that sanction fights – WBA, WBC, WBO and IBF.
Right now they see their best opportunity at the top with current and former champions including Teofimo Lopez, Devin Haney, George Kambosos Jr., Liam Paro or Regis Prograis.
“I like when it’s all on me inside the ring,” Williams said. “Outside the ring it’s still a team sport.”
His team members – trainer Cichon, promoter DiBella and manager Jackie Kallen – are all regarded highly in the boxing world.
Cichon has trained pros and amateurs for decades, including 16 years at the Manchester Police Athletic League program. DiBella, also a television producer, has represented world champions including Bernard Hopkins and Jermain Taylor. Kallen has managed world champions including James Toney and was the first woman manager inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Meg Ryan played a fictional character based on Kallen in the 2004 film, “Against the Ropes.” Kallen, a former reporter, also worked for many years with former champion Thomas The Hitman Hearns. A financial backer for Williams is Dr. Brad Daar, a dentist practicing in Old Saybrook who has supported the Manchester Ring of Champions and other boxing clubs.
Can Marvelous Mykquan make it to the top? This year unfolds as the next chapter.
He’s ready to step up,” Kallen told me. “He’s a real humble kid and very grounded. His confidence comes from the wins.”
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Andy Thibault, co-author of “You Thought It Was More – New Adventures of the World’s Greatest Counterfeiter,” teaches investigative reporting at the University of New Haven. Thibault also worked for several years as a licensed professional boxing judge.