Looking to go the distance
Pawtucket native De Los Santos excited to make professional debut
Local fighter makes his pro debut Friday
CRANSTON – If trouble didn’t find Ricky De Los Santos while at Tolman High School, he had a way of seeking out trouble.
“I used to fight a lot,” De Los Santos admitted.
His father, Rolando De Los Santos, came up with a suggestion. Why not find a productive outlet for those fists? Rolando bought his son a pair of boxing gloves that proved quite to be handy whenever young Ricky would get into arguments with his friends.
“The gloves were in the trunk, we would pull over and say, ‘Let’s go,’” De Los Santos said while sitting on the steps outside of 401 Boxing Gym one day earlier this week.
From that innocent introduction to boxing, the post-high school version of De Los Santos has learned the importance of channeling his inner rage. These days, he uses his fists to make a living. Come Friday night, the 28-year-old will step inside the ring at the Twin River Event Center for a six-round featherweight bout against Jose Ortiz from Jersey City, N.J.
The six-rounder represents a significant milestone for De Los Santos, who graduated from Tolman in 2007 and was a member
“Truthfully, I felt that I was ready for six rounds three fights ago. I’ve been training really hard. I’ve got to stay with that zero [losses]. That’s the biggest thing.”
— Pawtucket native Ricky De Los Santos
of the school’s varsity baseball and basketball teams. His previous five fights were each scheduled for four rounds. In his career, he’s 5-0 with one knockout.
“Truthfully, I felt that I was ready for six rounds three fights ago. I’ve been training really hard,” said De Los Santos, listed at 5-foot8 and 128 pounds. “I’ve got to stay with that zero. That’s the biggest thing.”
Friday at Twin River will also mark De Los Santos’ first fight since signing a contract with Classic Entertainment & Sports, which is in the business of promoting boxing and mixed martial arts. CES was there when De Los Santos made the transition from amateur fighting to landing a coveted spot on the undercard.
“That was so big. Before, people would ask, ‘Who’s that kid?’ I had to earn respect,” De Los Santos said when asked about officially joining the CES family. “I needed a promoter behind me that made sure I got all the fights I needed.”
At the urging of friends who would come and hound De Los Santos while he worked at a Providence-based mechanic shop, he would head to Twin River to check out the fights.
“One time, I turned to one of my friends and said, ‘I could be doing that,’” De Los Santos recalled. “He replied, ‘No you won’t.’”
At Tolman, De Los Santos regarded himself as a solid athletic performer. Whenever he reflects on the past, he feels his contributions to Tiger baseball and basketball should have been greater.
“Thinking back on those days playing for Tolman, I certainly appreciate them,” he said, “but I should of gone above and beyond what I did. The problem is that I caught up with friends and the girlfriends.”
Before high school, De Los Santos played youth football for the Darlington Braves and the now-defunct Pawtucket Crusaders. He never played a single down for Tolman, which is another regret.
“I used to see them every day outside, practicing in the heat. I was like, ‘Nah, I don’t want to do that,’” De Los Santos said. “I should have played football for Tolman.”
Is it any reason why one of De Los Santos’ friends doubted whether the demanding and sometimes unforgiving world of boxing would prove to be an ideal fit for him? To his credit, De Los Santos has learned from the past to the point where he now eats, sleeps, and breathes the sport.
On most days, De Los Santos wakes up at 6 a.m. and begins training. Some days, the alarm is set for five a.m. Once he’s out of bed, he’s usually running through the streets of Providence or heading to American Muscle Corp for strength & conditioning work. The owner of American Muscle Corp is Gail Bolden. She believes in De Los Santos so much that her business is sponsoring the Pawtucket native.
On most afternoons, you’ll find him at 401 Boxing Gym, a window-less building that features black walls. On this particular day, beads of sweat are pouring down the face of De Los Santos as he moves around the ring and attacks the target provided by trainer Orlando Valles, who first worked with De Los Santos back when Manfredo’s Gym was based in Pawtucket.
“I stay busy,” De Los Santos said. “All I do right now is boxing.”
Asked what his inspiration for fighting is and De Los Santos will say he has three special reasons: daughters Jaliyah, 11, Alainna, 7, and Aydelin, 1.
“They always want to come to the fights and get mad when I tell them, ‘We’ll see,’” De Los Santos said. “Jaliyah loves playing sports. Right now, she’s into basketball and softball. I want to set a good example for her and all my kids that you really have to work for this. Nobody is going to do it for you and nobody is going to want it more than you.”
Before, fight nights at Twin River would feature De Los Santos as one of the first bouts on the CES card. Now that he’s graduated to six rounds, he’ll sit tight until the completion of all six four-round fights that are scheduled. De Los Santos doesn’t expect to be nervous due to having extra time before facing Ortiz.
De Los Santos already knows when his next fight for CES will be scheduled – sometime in November at Twin River. In all likelihood, he’s looking at another six rounder with the hope that it’s his final one before graduating to eight rounds, which is how long Friday’s main event is scheduled to last.