One final round
for Rey Ruiz

By Melissa Yerkov
Times Sports Editor

Some might say Rey Ruiz’ boxing career began when he punched the principal of his elementary school.
Others may argue it wasn’t until he stepped into a boxing ring for the first time a few months later.
At the time, Ruiz was 12 and had a solid reputation as one of the "troublemakers" at Number 9 Elementary School in Passaic, N.J., he recalled.
"I constantly had problems at school," said Ruiz. "I was a bad guy then. I come from a broken-down home. I had a single mom. I had a lot of problems."
After her son’s altercation with the principal, Ruiz’ mother decided on an effective way to punish the boy for his misbehavior. Rather than sign him over to a reform home, Ruiz’ mom put him in a big brother program called "The Watchful Eye."
He was paired with a local detective, Leonard Shall, who took the child under his wing.
"I remember him telling me, ‘You have a lot of anger inside you and need to let it go. But you also need an education,’" Ruiz recalled. "He started taking me to the gym every day and told me to take out all my anger on the punching bags. He’s the one that kept me in school and kept me focused. He kept taking me to the gym and made me the best athlete I could be."
Ruiz went on to graduate from Passaic High School and later attended a junior college for a few months.
But school didn’t stand much of a chance against Ruiz’ true passion — boxing.
"The vigorous work that boxers endure is what makes the sport so great," said Ruiz. "It’s not even the fight or the hype. It’s the training that is incredible."
Ruiz went on to achieve a 52-3 record throughout his amateur boxing career. He won the Golden Gloves title, a national amateur boxing competition, in 1987 before entering the ring as a professional boxer later that year. After spending a few years living in Northeast Philadelphia and sparring throughout the area, Ruiz relocated to Ohio, where he earned a state title in 1995.
Life was good. Ruiz was a solid boxer with a future.
And then, in a split second, everything changed.
In 1999, Ruiz was in a life-threatening car accident. He was driving from his Cleveland home to Columbus, Ohio, for a church revival. An elderly motorist lost control of her vehicle, which jumped a highway divider and plowed head-on into Ruiz’ car.
Ruiz barely survived. His collarbone pierced his neck. His sternum caved in, and his metacarpal bone stabbed through the skin of a hand. Four of his toes were broken.
"If you saw pictures of my car," Ruiz said, "you would think I died in that accident."
The road to recovery was long and demanding. It took Ruiz more than seven years to fully recuperate.
"I trained feverishly day and night with physical therapy in Cleveland until I was back to normal," he said.
And now he’s ready to step back in the ring. Rey Ruiz is 40.
"Hearing people say that I’ve been out too long, or I’m too old, adds fuel to my fire," he said. "But now when they see me fight, they’ll see that my persistence paid off. They’ll get a big surprise ’cause I’m in super shape."
Ruiz tested the waters during a match two years ago against Timothy "The Toy" Bowe, an ex-world champion. The showdown went four rounds before Ruiz won by unanimous decision.
"The first fight back was great," said Ruiz. "I decided to take a little more time off to recover more and get in even better shape.
"I’m hungry for a win," added Ruiz, who is 5-feet-10 and weighs 183 pounds. "I’m more focused. This is the pure Rey Ruiz now. I’ve been doing it twenty-nine years, and I don’t want to let it go until I get my world title. I want to live it all the way through."
Ruiz recently moved back to his old Northeast Philly neighborhood and now trains with Charlie Sgrillo at the Harrowgate Boxing Club in Kensington.
He trains vigorously five days a week.
"I want it so bad. I want it with my whole heart," said Ruiz. "That keeps me feverishly training like I do.
"I don’t regret one moment of me being a boxer in this lifetime," he continued. "I love everything I’ve done. All the people I’ve met. I’ve had so many trainers in my life, I got a piece of each and every one of them, and that’s one of the reasons I can’t be touched. I fight many styles, and I use every style I can. I’m a great adapter when I fight."
Ruiz will enter the ring on Aug. 3 during a boxing card at the National Guard Armory, located at Roosevelt Boulevard and Southampton Road in the Far Northeast. He also has a pending match on Aug. 10 at the Blue Horizon on Broad Street.
"I never thought I’d still be boxing now," said Ruiz. "But I believe in my skills and my confidence level. I went through hell to get where I am now. I know that there’s not a fighter out there who has been through what I’ve been through.
"I’ve been blessed in this life," he added. "Everything I’ve been through has made me stronger. It made me a much more focused man, in the Lord and in myself. And I know I can accomplish anything." ••
Sports editor Melissa Yerkov can be reached at 215-354-3035 or myerkov@phillynews.com