Ali "Junior" Youssef

Marty Gervais, Windsor Star

Published: Wednesday, February 21, 2007

At 15, top boxer grew up in ring

You might catch sight of this kid on Riverside Drive running his heart out.

Almost every day he makes his way east along the Detroit River to Drouillard Road and runs south along that street to the boxing club.

And he's ready.

Skipping, shadowboxing, sparring.

His dark eyes tell the story of a life of dedication, intensity.

Deep, dark eyes of a kid wanting nothing less than winning.

And winning is what he knows.

Fifteen-year-old Ali Youssef seems to block everything else out. And it doesn't matter if it is a real fight or sparring. When he's in the ring, it's the world of truth. Fight or be beaten.

So many times, I've watched him move in the ring, his eyes fixed on his opponent, his arms and hands wreaking havoc like a lethal machine. No dance in those feet. No pretty movements. Just steady even blows striking his opponent without mercy.

That's the way you win.

NO MERCY

That's his mantra: Keep moving. Keep hitting. No mercy. Keep moving. Keep hitting. No mercy.

The boy I am speaking about is called "Junior" by everyone at the Border City Boxing Club.

On the weekend, Junior walked away with Canada's Best Cadet-C Boxer Award.

In winning gold at the Canadian Championships in St. Catharines, he knocked out British Columbia's Stefan Melideo in the first round of their finals bout in the 119 pounds division.

Earlier he had defeated Toronto's Martin Halibus by a 21-7 score in his first fight on the weekend, then took on last year's Canadian champ, New Brunswick's Mitch Cormier, and before the first round was over had been declared a winner by first round stoppage on Saturday en route to the gold medal final.

"There really was no contest," said Margaret Sidoroff, who along with her husband, Josh Canty, have been training Junior the past three years.

"He was chasing last year's Canadian champ all over the ring," she said.

Junior didn't realize he was facing the former Canadian champ.

"They didn't tell me until after the fight, and if I had known, I probably would have been more careful."

But Canty said being careful is not in Junior's vocabulary: "He's really fighting below his level -- he's really a man among boys."

Canty said there is no style or grace to Junior's approach.

It's true. I have seen this kid in the ring. He's a slugging machine. He isn't afraid of anything. He steps right into the fray and his arms and fists start working the body of the other fighter.

"I have to be like that," Junior told me in an interview this week.

"I'm smaller than most fighters -- I'm only five-foot-four and so I have to get in early with those first punches."

In the case of the fight that gave him the gold medal, Junior threw six punches.

He caught Melideo with a left hook and then immediately slammed the fighter with a left under the rib cage.

"And that was it -- he had to be down (on the mat) for two minutes," said Canty. "The fight was over in 35 seconds. A coach sitting nearby remarked, 'That kid two weeks from now will still be feeling that body shot.'

"When I saw Melideo go down, I knew he wasn't getting up."

In a way, Junior felt cheated: "I knew I had won, but I really didn't think I had done enough to win. I mean, it was over in just a few seconds."

The kid has come a long way. I watched him a few years ago in one of his first fights, and saw him lose. But that was expected. He wasn't experienced enough. I remember him being down about it, knowing he should've won, and how he promised he'd be back stronger and tougher. And he was.

But honesty became a liability for the kid. He'd show up at a scheduled fight and his opponents would sidle up to him and start talking, and Junior would confide how badly he had beat up his last challenger.

A few minutes later, the coach of the other kid he was supposed to fight would approach Canty to say his fighter had a severe stomach ache and was backing out.

Junior's a lot smarter now. He keeps his mouth shut. He wants the fights. And since 2004 when he won the Ringside World Championship, he's liked the taste of victory.

"That's all I want," Junior says.

Nothing else will do.