The reaction is virtually equivalent to the final anytime a student learns about the other facet of Mike Ragusa. The eyebrows are raised and there’s a baffled expression, followed by the inquiry he has appear to anticipate:
“’What!?’” the Poughkeepsie resident said, impersonating a teen. “’You seriously box?’”
Ragusa is an assistant principal at Newburgh No cost Academy and has been an educator for 23 yrs. Just before that, even though, he was an attained newbie boxer. And, it turns out, there is additional he desires to carry out.
The 53-year-outdated will slide the paperwork to the aspect and ditch the organization informal attire to move into the ring a single more time, at minimum. He is amid 36 fighters from the Hudson Valley competing Saturday in the Ring Masters Championships: Highway to the Back garden, a match that will serve as a qualifying event for the national Golden Gloves championships at Madison Square Back garden in June.
“There’s a combination of nerves and exhilaration,” Ragusa said of what will be his 1st bout given that 2000. “I really do not feel anyone goes into a struggle without having having some nerves. I comprehend I’m not a 25-12 months-old any longer. But, I do assume I’m gifted for my age and I’ve been sparring with men extra than 20 many years youthful than me.”
The match will begin 3:30 p.m. at the Hudson Valley Sportsdome in Milton, featuring several boxers from this area hoping for a moment of glory or to generate a spot on the significant stage at the Garden.
The occasion also will serve as a fundraiser for the John Bouquets Group Functions corporation and the Police Emerald Modern society of Hudson Valley, and it will be streamed reside at Hundreds of thousands.co/USABoxingMetro.
“Hudson Valley fighters are setting up to make some noise,” mentioned Anthony Bongiorni, operator of the Floyd Patterson Boxing Club in Highland and the promoter of this occasion. “There are some gifted boxers and coaches in the location who really don’t get as significantly focus. But Leonard Lee is a terrific mentor in Newburgh and Kariym Patterson does a good task at APJ Boxing (in Poughkeepsie). The activity appears to be alive in the ‘845.’”
Emilio Torres, a mentor at APJ, is among the combatants. He will combat at 156 lbs and is a victory away from reaching the Golden Gloves closing. Miguel Matias, a superheavyweight who trains at Patterson, is amongst the favorites to get.
Ragusa and 60-calendar year-old Clint Hodder are locals competing as Masters boxers — a sanctioned division for longtime fighters around the age of 35 who have under no circumstances fought skillfully in any battle sport.
Ragusa commenced boxing as a youngster in 1978 and went on to get pleasure from achievement, competing in extra than 100 novice bouts and winning several tournaments. He created a run at the Olympics in 1992, but shed in a regional spherical to John Ruiz, who went on to develop into a planet champion. Ragusa’s profession was paused just after a series of tragedies, together with the unexpected deaths of his father and young brother.
“I was devastated,” he stated. “I believed at the time I was finished with boxing. I nevertheless had a enthusiasm for the activity, but my brain was somewhere else at the time, additionally I had other obligations in everyday living.”
He arrived a teacher in 1999, but the ring beckoned yet again the next calendar year. He fought and gained a match in 2000, but noticeably injured his wrist and essential medical procedures. That, he thought, would be the conclusion of his occupation. Until eventually the itch returned a number of yrs back, and he began education at the Patterson Boxing Club in 2018.
There have been matches scheduled for him because, but a torn meniscus and shoulder personal injury kiboshed both of those chances, and then COVID-19 halted everything.
So, the bout versus George Kayumov on Saturday will be his first in more than two many years. As all those two are the only Masters in their pounds course, this match will establish a winner.
“I haven’t felt this fantastic bodily in a number of decades,” reported Ragusa, who dropped 25 pounds and expects to weigh in at about 192 lbs .. “I’m gonna go out there and do the ideal I can, and I feel I’ll get.”
Stephen Haynes: [email protected] 845-437-4826 Twitter: @StephenHaynes4
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