Mcneeley Kos Ex-Con

If Peter McNeeley learned anything from his infamous fight against Mike Tyson, it was to choose his opponents carefully.

McNeeley rebounded from the loss to Tyson with a second-round knockout of 37-year-old ex-convict Mike Sam. The card was the first at Boston’s new FleetCenter, keeping alive a McNeeley family tradition: His grandfather, Tom, fought on the Garden’s opening night in 1928.

“It was nice to take part in a city and family tradition,” McNeeley (37-2) said. “But it’s my first fight back after the Tyson fight and it was important to me to come back with a win.”

He made sure of that with his opponent.

Sam spent nine years in a Louisiana prison for a robbery conviction and had fought - and lost - only once since 1985. Boxing officials had expressed concern whether Sam (9-3) was in shape to go 12 rounds.

“I didn’t know I was going 12 rounds,” Sam said after the fight. “I didn’t know that until I got up on the stage.”