Month: May 2021

Houston’s 2000 Sydney Olympics silver medalist and perennial world championship contender Ricardo “Rocky” Juarez went to social media this weekend to let everyone know that coach Ray Ontiveros passed away.

Ontiveros got his start in boxing as a youth at The Panther Boys Club in Fort Worth, Texas, participating in somewhere between forty and fifty bouts as an amateur. He never went professional due to personal responsibilities, but the seed was planted and he would spend the majority of the rest of his life in amateur and professional boxing as a gym owner, coach, manager, and corner man.

A Northside staple since the late 70’s, Ontiveros started coaching out of his garage with one punching bag, a speed bag, sit-up bench, mirror, and a homemade ring that was soo small that it gave you no choice but to learn to fight. There was also a sign that he made himself and hung in his garage/gym that personified his personality that read something like, “The gloves, headgear, etc are not orphans and are not looking for a new home, don’t take them outside of this gym.”

From there he moved into the warehouse on Freeman Street that is now the home of Rocky’s Boxing Gym, but by that time his boxing team had already earned a reputation around the nation as tough, gritty, and skilled boxers, always in condition and ready to rumble.

Ontiveros taught, coached, and cornered many outstanding boxers throughout the years, but his most successful boxer was probably the above mentioned Rocky Juarez, who won the silver medal in boxing at The 2000 Sydney Olympics, and was a top ten contender for virtually his whole professional career that spanned from 2001 through 2015. Rocky would likely have been a world champion had he not fought in the eras of Juan Manuel Marquez and Marco Antonio Barrrera, whom he dropped decisions to in world title bids.

Ontiveros, a mainstay in the Houston boxing scene for many years will surely be missed and remembered and as some of the area fighters and coaches mentioned this weekend, he’s probably somewhere in the after-life arguing about boxing with coaches Willie Savannah, Kenny Weldon, Hector Rocha and Walt Hailey.