Baranchyk’s Trainers Working on Getting Puncher to Settle Down

by David P. Greisman

Ivan Baranchyk knocked out 10 of his first 11 opponents but has been taken the distance in each of his last two bouts. That’s partially by design.

“We’re working really hard to get Ivan to settle down, because he knows he can punch,” said Andre Rozier, co-trainer to the junior welterweight/welterweight prospects alongside Gary Stark Sr. “It’s almost like an Achilles’ heel. He thinks he’s going to be able to knock you out regardless. Sometimes he gets a little reckless. We need to taper that and fine-tune his mind about working, touching his opponent with punches and then success will be achieved.”

The two decisions came in September, a 10-round victory over Zhimin Wang, and in December, a 10-round decision over Wilberth Lopez. Baranchyk is now 13-0 with 10 KOs.

“He fought two guys who were there to fight and trying to win,” Rozier said. “When he got reckless at times, we had to pull him back and settle him down. If they know you can punch, they’re going to be looking out for those things. You can’t always present those things to your opponent. Sometimes you have to spoon-feed your opponents small bits of information until you open them up, and then that’s when you drop the ball on them.”

Baranchyk turns 24 in January. He’s got a date penciled in on Feb. 10 in Miami, Oklahoma, where a “ShoBox” card is slated to take place. Abel Ramos is listed as the opponent on BoxRec. Rozier said that nothing has been confirmed.

Ramos, 25, is 17-1-2 with 12 KOs. He was stopped in late 2015 by rising junior welterweight Regis Prograis and has won three fights since then.

“I saw him in his loss. He’s a tough kid,” Rozier said.

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