Stephen Ryan is the youngest of the young fighters to be honoured at the Niagara Legends Boxing Show, which takes place Friday night at the Merritton Community Centre.
Additionally, Ryan Bourque, Stephen Wilcox, Ryan Llanelli, Daniel Ryan, Scotty Paul and Ray Napper Jr. will also be inducted as Niagara Boxing Legends as part of the Young Guns Year.
Ryan, 25, from St. Catharines, started attending the St. Catharines Boxing Club when he was 10 or 11 years old.
“I started winning straight away and went to some very competitive places, like the U.S. I came back to Canada and quickly won the Ontario Provincial Championship and competed at the national championships almost every year when I was younger.”
A pipelayer by trade, he won all but one of the state championships he competed in during his nine-year dominance.
He remembers his only defeat clearly.
“I won the silver medal here in Falls against Spencer Wilcox. He was a good guy. He was tough. I fought Spencer in the first round at nationals that year. We looked at each other and said, 'Let's do it again. Let's do it again,' and I lost to him by decision again.”
She won a gold medal in the youth division at nationals, a silver medal in the senior division in Canada in 2018 and a silver medal at the Ringside World Championships.
He quit boxing at age 20, the same year he lost to Spencer Wilcox in a national championship.
“I had one more fight against the Scottish champion and I won but then I kind of fell out of boxing,” he said. “Nothing really happened, I just fell out of boxing and stopped going to the gym so much.”
His boxing performance was the lowest point of his career.
“Maybe I shouldn't have done that.”
He still wants to get back in the ring.
“All the time. I was here just two weeks ago to spar with my brother, Jerry. I still come here sometimes.”
His career has had many highlights, but the culmination was the 2018 U.S. Championships, where he competed alongside his cousins James Hughes and Antonio Napolitano, and his brother Jerry.
“We were all fighting, beating everybody, knocking everybody out. There were four of us, we were all like family, beating everybody and we all did well. Jerry won the bronze medal, Antonio won the silver medal, I won the silver medal and James won the gold medal. I remember Jerry knocking his guy out with a body shot and me knocking him out in the first round.”
He's not sure why he stayed in boxing for so long.
“Everyone else was doing it too, and it just seemed normal. It was a family event.”
The fight card will feature guest appearances from Gerry Cooney and Boom Boom Mancini.
St. Catharines boxers scheduled to fight on the card are Dylan Maisonneuve, Ireland's Gavin Freel, Bobby Haynes, Ray Adamic, Pat Ryan, Alex Lindsay, Megan (Mad Dog) Reynolds and Arsheel Raja.
Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door. For more information or tickets, call 905-988-1244.
Doors open at 6:30pm and boxing begins at 7:30pm.
