Niagara Boxing Legend Daniel Ryan
Daniel Ryan recalls two starts to his boxing career.
“Officially, I started when I was 14 in Grade 9. Unofficially, I have been doing it since the time I was five or six because all the boys have always fought each other in the backyard and wherever else,” the 26-year-old St. Catharines native.
Ryan has 10 brothers and every one of them has laced up a pair of boxing gloves at one time and all but two or three have stepped into a boxing ring to compete in an official fight.
“The question is who hasn’t,” said Ryan, who last Friday was inducted into the Niagara Boxing Legends as part of the Year of the Young Guns along with Ryan Baulk, Steven Wilcox, Ryan Rannelli, Stephen Ryan, Scottie Paul and Ray Napper Jr.
The plumber by trade, who works at E.S. Fox, won four provincial championships (two as a youth and two at the senior open level), won a silver medal at the Ringside World Championships in Kansas City and captured three bronze medals at the nationals (two at youth and one at senior open).
“There were all kinds of high points but the best was the provincials in 2017. I was 19 years old, had just started fighting at middleweight and I wasn’t quite at the weight yet. I was only at 158 when I won that year and I had two knockouts in that tournament and the other two I won unanimously to advance to the nationals.”
His low point came at those national championships.
“In my first fight, I fought the guy from Manitoba, gave him two eight counts and beat him. The second guy was also from Manitoba and I gave him an eight count and I thought I had beat him the whole fight and they gave him the split decision. The guy that ended up winning nationals that year was from Ontario and I knocked him out at the Ontario championships. I never got to win my Canadian national championship which I thought I deserved that year.”
He retired from boxing in 2020.
“The world shut down (COVID pandemic), then I got married had a kid and never got back to it.”
He hasn’t been back in the ring but boxing is still a big part of his life.
“I have always loved boxing and whenever the big fight comes on I have to see it. I always like stopping at the club now and then. In general, I like to stay in shape, stay sharp and I train here and there whenever I can.”
He loves everything about the sport.
“It is going in there and proving how resilient I can be. I always had the mindset going into the fight that I might win, I might lose but he is not going to knock me out and I am going to give him the toughest night he has had of his whole life. That worked out pretty good for me.”
Good enough to see him honoured as a Niagara Boxing Legend.
