Junior welterweight Ryan “The Lion” Schwartzberg has made a career as part of boxing’s backbone. He takes fights on late notice against fighters with deep amateur pedigrees, and he gives them tough battles.
And sometimes he upsets the apple cart entirely. Schwartzberg knocked out Chris Howard, at the time 18-3-1 (8 KOs), as an underdog on December 3 in Nashville, Tennessee.
Holding a record of 6-17-3 (4 KOs), the 34-year-old Schwartzberg looks like fodder for most young fighters on paper, but he has a compelling story of his own.
After playing college football at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin, Schwartzberg found himself moving to Florida with little purpose. He bounced between odd jobs, but nothing stuck.
“All my life I have been an athlete,” Schwartzberg told BoxingScene. “I was about 22 years old and I had nothing going on. I lost my [football] team, and I’m working construction. My life got depressing, and I really didn’t know what to do.”
He started training in martial arts as a teen when his brother and his best friend were jumped by a bunch of kids. He realized he needed to learn how to fight, but fighting didn’t seem like it was for him. He was a football guy. That was until something horrible happened.
“The brother of a good friend of mine who is a martial artist committed suicide,” Schwartzberg said. “This happened about six or seven years ago.”
His friend, Bruce Lutchmedial, had just opened Fitness Through MMA in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Schwartzberg wanted to be there for Bruce after such a profound loss. He went to the gym, laying the groundwork for what became an MMA and kickboxing career.
Schwartzberg says he was a good MMA fighter, but his flaw was the ground game. He was 1-1 in professional MMA, but the pay wasn’t great. Boxing offered better paydays, though with a catch: he’d be a B-side, somebody pursued not for his talents but as an ideal opponent to make bigger-name fighters look good.
“It's very hard to go in there and get the money and the win,” Schwartzberg said. “I’m able to make a decent living now and I’m getting some good offers, which makes my value go up. I’m a good opponent. I’m also starting to become qualified for potentially eight- and 10-round fights.”
In the past few years, Schwartzberg has beaten undefeated fighters Dante Concepcion (1-0-1 at the time), Christian Rivera (7-0) and Ryan Umberger (4-0). He has defied the odds. But what are his motivations to fight against the tide of boxing?
“The true victory for me is getting in that ring and following through on what I want to do. I like making my way and getting in the ring. I like fighting hard after I’ve trained for the win,” Schwartzberg said. “Now, to me, there’s also levels to winning.”
“I’ve won fights where I felt like I could have done a lot better, but it was still a win. It’s all about a win within myself. As long as I commit and continue to stay true to my word, I’m a winner.”
In an era where many fighters want to be the next version of Floyd Mayweather, Schwartzberg is an outlier. He’s proud to compete and always game to go up against the best. He has his own place in this era of boxing that is built around manufacturing records.
Fighters like Schwartzberg have records that don’t accurately reflect their true skillset or bravery, but don’t be fooled – he is a modern-day gladiator.
“I feel like I get the respect,” Schwartzberg said. “I know I won, because at a lot of these fights the fans tell me I won, even though I lost the decision.”