The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net With his professional boxing career off to a fantastic start, Ryan 'Big Youth' McKenzie has decided to take it to another level by moving his training base to the United States. Like a lot of Bahamian fighters who migrated to the US, McKenzie took his talent to Syracuse, New York, where he made his foreign debut a week ago with a second round technical knockout over Babe Starnino. The victory pushed his unblemished light-heavyweight record to 9-0. "It was a fabulous show. It was a great atmosphere and the experience was just tremendous," said McKenzie on his return home to watch the Major Pain extravaganza at the Kendal Isaacs gym Saturday night. "It was something totally different and I enjoyed it." While working at his job at the RIU Hotel on Paradise Island, the 6-foot-3, 175-pound McKenzie said he met Tony Graziano, a long-time boxing impresario on vacation who offered him the opportunity to train and fight out of his Ray Rinaldi's West Area Athletic and Education Center. "He told me if I like it, I could stay and if I didn't like it, I could come back home and we could still be friends," McKenzie said. "When I got there, he liked what he saw and he ended up finding a fight for me. He liked what he saw when I went into the ring and now that's the start of it." McKenzie, who at age 26 still feels that he has the potential to become a world champion, said he intends to make the most of the opportunity to fight out of the US, considering the fact that there are very few professional shows here and not that many opponents for him to fight. "This is definitely going to be something that is ongoing," McKenzie said. "This is something that I like. This is my life. I want to make this my career right now, so I'm definitely going to go back over there and do some more training and get on some more cards." Compared to what he has seen here, McKenzie said there is a lot more structure fighting in the US and the fans are much more enthused about the sport. "We have some crazy people down here, but they are really crazy and passionate about the sport over there," he stated. "Plus, they push the sport a lot more over there. It's always good to fight at home, but it's also always good to fight away because you get the ranking and international recognition that you won't get from here." With a solid base to work with from his introduction to the sport by Ray Minus Jr, Champion Amateur Boxing Club and First Class Promotions, McKenzie said he was confident when he stepped into the ring and it showed in the outcome of his fight. "I was able to put those jabs on him and I went to work," said McKenzie, who dominated the fight from start to finish. "He had two hands just like I did. It's just that I wasn't prepared to go there and establish myself with a loss, so we just had to go at it." Taking a couple days off to relax with family and friends, McKenzie said he's expected to return to Syracuse where he will resume training for his next show sometime in March. But he noted that if the opportunity presents itself with the Major Promotions & Entertainment or any other promotional group, he will definitely return home to fight again. "I'm in a gym where they have five state champions," McKenzie noted. "It's a very good gym and I think if I can continue to work hard and do the things that I've been taught so far in my career, I can get to the top and become a world champion. "I just have to stay focus and remain committed to the things that I have to do. If I do that, I'm pretty sure that I can get there."