FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM NOVEMBER 28, 2019 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 51
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Photos: Max Parrott/QNS
Ridgewood boxing ‘Prospect of the Year’ poised for stardom
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
With an undefeated nine-match record
and six knockouts, rising Ridgewood boxing
star Mathew Gonzalez is poised to
punch into the upper crust of the boxing
industry over the next year.
Veteran boxing association Ring 8
recently selected Ridgewood native
Mathew Gonzalez as 2019 Prospect of the
Year. He will receive his honor at 7 p.m.
Dec. 8 at Russo’s on the Bay, located at
162-45 Cross Bay Blvd., Howard Beach.
Gonzalez is about halfway through
a 10-fi ght contract with Th e Real Deal
Boxing, founded by four-time heavyweight
champion Evander Holyfi eld. If he
can keep his undefeated streak through
the end of the contract with 13 wins, he
hopes that it will put him on track to sign
a deal with one of boxing’s highest tier
promotions in the next year.
Th e ambitious 24-year-old started training
to when he was 8 years old and still
enrolled at P.S. 239, which is located right
across the street from his boxing gym. He
has been working toward a career in boxing
ever since and had his fi rst competitive
fi ght when he was 10 years old.
“It takes a lot to go in that ring and get
punched in the face. Defi nitely not easy,”
Gonzalez said. “You gotta be a diff erent
type of person to be a boxer.”
Asked how his perspective on the sport
since then, Gonzalez says that now he
thinks about it as a profession. Back then
he said he thought of himself as a gladiator.
Now he sees a career in boxing as
a path to having an “above-average lifestyle.”
To him, business is personal. Gonzalez’s
fi ancée Jenny Badillo manages his career
and owns the gym that he uses to train.
Gonzalez said that there is no better his
business partner than a loved one.
He added that it can be a “headache
sometimes,” but “knowing that your manager
is someone that you’re laying in bed
with at the end of the day, that’s someone
that you trust and know they have your
best interests at heart.”
But his career ambition is not the only
thing that drives him; Gonzalez currently
runs the youth and teen program at
Badillo’s boxing club in addition to taking
on clients to train.
“I always felt like I was a fi ghter at
heart,” he said.
On Th ursday, he signed up for his next
fi ght, which is scheduled for Dec. 5 at
Terminal 5 in Manhattan. Th e bout will be
promoted and live-streamed by DiBella
Entertainment. Gonzalez didn’t know
who his opponent would be yet, but was
already counting it as a victory.
“Just come watch me go to work. I’ll be
making a massacre,” he said.
No matter what heights his career takes
him, Gonzalez said he would stay loyal
to the neighborhood where he’s lived his
whole life. Th en again, he sees big moves
and a lifestyle to match in his future. “No
two- or three-bedroom apartments,” for
him.
Boxing association Ring 8 recently selected Ridgewood native Mathew “Lefty Gunz” Gonzalez as the 2019 Prospect of the Year.
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