By Rich Bergeron
Light Heavyweight Rayco “War” Saunders (15-8-2, 7 KO’s) is the kind of fighter who backs up the hype and always comes to battle. Boxing today is filled with plenty of pretty boys, he says, but Rayco rises above those protected ranks to stand as a symbol of perseverance in a game that is riddled with bad politics and poor judgment.
“Back in the day, guys like Jack Johnson, they’d go 100 rounds,” said Saunders. “They’d beat a guy, fight the next guy and the next guy, like a gladiator. These guys right now, and I’m not saying nobody in particular, you got a lot of these guys, they wanna be prettier than women. They do. There’s nothing wrong with looking nice, and I try to look good, but even with my defensive style, I’m a toe-to-toe fighter, all day every day. I don’t get hit that much. My defense is great. A lotta these guys wanna be prettier than those women out there, and they know who they are, and it’s a shame. There’s too many protected fighters. It’s all about money to them, but if I get in there with a guy like Tyson, I’m really, truly gonna try to beat that guy. I gotta beat him to become the best.”
Saunders, who spent the first four years of his career managing himself, has seen his toughest times outside the ring. Someone stabbed him in the back when he was 15. A bullet pierced his chest when he was 21. He shot at people himself, dealt drugs, and was arrested six times between 1994 and 1997. He also served four years in prison for being suspected in a shootout with police. He maintains he was framed in the case.
Somewhere along the way boxing saved Saunders, but some of the sport’s judges and politicians still make it difficult for him to make any real progress. It is always an uphill battle in Rayco Saunders’ world. Even as a reformed family man with a new team of promoters he still can’t seem to get a break. This past October Saunders beat Chris Henry so bad in a 10-round slugfest that Henry ended up with a 45-day medical suspension after the bout. Saunders swears he caused his undefeated opponent brain damage. Henry even lost a point in the 8th round for low blows just as Saunders began to really pour on the punishment. Yet, even though most of the press in attendance thought Henry had clearly lost, Saunders was the one left on the short end of a split decision.
Although he’s taken the loss in stride and is working to regroup, he’s still seething inside. “I’ve been good, just relaxing and taking it easy. I’m getting back into the gym, trying to get my stuff back together,” he said. “To me, any loss is a tough loss, but when you beat a guy like I beat that guy Chris Henry, it’s real tough. A couple people were saying to me it’s a wonder I didn’t quit. I fought two top 15 WBC ranked guys, and I beat both of ‘em. But in the end I got a draw and a split decision loss, even though I beat both of ‘em. The only thing that keeps me from quitting is the nature of the fight. These are wars. That’s what I love to do. It’s a double-edged sword. I’m not getting the wins, but on the other hand, the fight is so good to me, that it keeps me here. I definitely enjoyed the fight, 100 percent.”
As far as what’s next, he imagines he’ll wait a while before he tries to find a fight that will help him move up the ranks. He’s put the ball in his promoter’s court. “Well, I’m gonna leave it in the hands of Sin City Boxing, and we’re talking about a few things right now. A few possibilities are coming up I guess, but nothing that’s guaranteed. Probably a few easier fights, to get me back on the right track. Me, myself, if it was up to me, I love the hard fights. You gotta fight the best to be the best.”
Knowing the talent he has is obscured by the way his record looks on paper has been the toughest hurdle for him to get past. “It’s very frustrating you know when you watch different guys fight on TV,” he said, mentioning the recent HBO telecast of Jeff Lacy’s fight. “You got fights like this man, these are TV fights. These guys are making real nice money. Off TV guys like me and Chris Henry are putting on the better show. That fight woulda maybe been runner up for fight of the year. When I fought Emmanuel Nwodo, that fight might have been candidate for fight of the year. Great fighters like myself just can’t get on TV, and I consider myself a fighter, not a boxer. You got these guys man, out there, where their promoters are protecting them. They’re protected. A fighter like myself is willing to fight anyone, anywhere, anytime, any place, and I can fight. Guys know I can fight.”
His last two bouts affected his whole outlook on the sport in a negative way. “It’s frustrating, though, that judges are held so unaccountable for their actions,” he said. “My fights with Danny Santiago and Chris Henry, I won. When a guy comes in there and fights the better fight, give that man the win. I worked hard. They know this. I probably gave Henry brain damage. He got a 45-day medical suspension, and he didn’t get cut or nothin’. That tells you a lot about the ass kickin’ I gave him. Guarantee he got brain damage. The Houston Commission put it up on their Web-site, he got a 45-days medical suspension, just because of the punishment he took. I got head butted, and I got a nice gash, but if I took my left hand and covered my eye, you’d never think I was in a fight. But that boy, I hurt that boy pretty bad. I definitely hurt him. I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody halfway good got in there with him next and they knocked him out. Once the brain is damaged, it’s damaged. Evander Holyfield and Reggie Johnson were both there at the fight, and they emailed Sin City, and they both said I definitely won that fight.”
Saunders really gets riled when he discusses other fighters out there who build their undefeated records by fighting the tomato cans and stiffs that stay in the sport simply to be tune up opponents who won’t be able to at all hurt a prospect. “Guys are just so protected. Guys back in the day had a hundred fights, 75 fights, and these guys would fight, that’s what they were. These guys today, they’re not fighters, man. They’re sportsmen, not gladiators. Like basketball and football players. A guy just get a little bump, and they’re laying on the ground. The whole medical team comes out, he gets up and walks off the field,” he said. “They’re afraid to break a nail, these fighters today. Guys like myself are trying to make a nice living off this thing called boxing here, and we can’t do it because of the political aspects of the game. It’s almost a guaranteed thing that when you go in someone’s backyard, and you don’t knock ‘em out, you don’t win. That really needs to stop, and I see it all the time. I really do.”
He’s tried to get on the bigger networks, but it’s been tough for him to get any respect because of the way his record appears. “Why not put a guy like myself on HBO? If I woulda fought Lacy on HBO, and they was willing to pay me, that woulda been a fight. I talked to them. HBO had to approve it, and they’re not gonna approve the fight because of my record,” he said. “I shouldn’t be 15-7, and I only lost maybe 2 fights, but on paper, this is what HBO is looking at. I’m not ranked with all them organizations, but all of it’s just on paper. I beat all these guys. They’ve been saved by their savior, their commissions, their hometowns. I woulda fought Lacy, and it probably woulda been a tremendous fight. It wouldn’t have went the distance, but it would have been a tremendous, toe-to-toe, fight. I woulda won that fight, definitely. I’d a stopped Jeff Lacy, no question.”
Saunders actually prefers to face tough competition. “I like all the guys that come to fight. I got a lot of respect for Henry. He’s got style, and he comes to fight. Danny Santiago’s got style, and he comes to fight. Glen Johnson is probably one of my favorite fighters because of his style, and he comes to fight. That’s what it’s all about,” he said.
Looking to the future, there’s no opponent he’s really gunning for. “I don’t have my sights on anyone in particular,” he said. “I have no negative feelings toward any individual fighter. I’m a great sportsman in the sport. I fight the best to be the best. That’s me. I can’t get a decision if it goes to that in somebody’s back yard, that’s all. Get the roughest guy out there, and I’m the guy that wants to fight him.”
Saunders offers a unique perspective since he managed and promoted himself for so long. The first four years of his career had him doing everything, including selling tickets to his own fights. The pressure of doing it all finally caught up with him, and he signed with Sin City Boxing so he could focus more on fighting and training. “I controlled my own career for the first four years. Although I’ve enjoyed those four years, I’m not satisfied one bit,” he said. “But, I’ve enjoyed it. I learned a lot controlling my own career. Now it’s time to let somebody else take charge and see what they can come through with. I did everything. I worked with promoting shows here in Pittsburgh. I sold tickets, sold my purse with the money I made and my opponent made. Even when I fought on ESPN, I sold enough tickets to pay myself and my opponent. That TV spot wasn’t given to me. Every fight I had, I paid to be on that show. I did all my promoting. I made my own TV commercials. I did my own fight commercials on the radio. I’ve done all that.”
Asked if that workload ever distracted him when fight time arrived, he was quick to admit it did burn him once. “Absolutely, when I fought James Walton for the NABC Cruiserweight Title, that whole day I was running around sellin’ tickets,” he said. “Usually a fighter’s laid back and relaxed, but no, I was running around all day selling tickets, and it almost cost me the fight. I was driving so much, I started catching leg cramps in the 8th round. I was catching them cramps due to me riding around all day selling tickets, trying to make sure that I made my purse and his purse.” Despite the trouble he had in the fight, he won by majority decision in a match that stands as one of his most formidable career wins.
As far as more fighters getting into the promotional game, he offers up mixed reviews for the progress made on that front. "I think it’s gonna be great for the sport, and I think it’s long overdue. I also feel that those guys, should look to, or shouldn’t get caught up in what’s currently going on right now as far as undefeated fighters who are 10-0 or 11-0 and haven’t fought anybody,” he said. “”I contacted Golden Boy Promotions a few times. I even emailed Winky Wright Promotions. These guys gave me no response. I can’t even get an email back saying, ‘well we’re not looking for a light heavy.’ Say what you need to say, I don’t care, but at least can I get a response back? These guys are already getting caught up in the politics of the game. If their guy can’t fight, they’ll never put ‘em in with a guy like me. I went on www.boxrec.com, and Otis Griffin had a fight, but he had no opponent. I emailed Golden Boy and Bernard Hopkins. I told ‘em, ‘I’ll fight Otis Griffin.’ Next time I checked, they took Otis Griffin off the card. Instead of making that fight, they took him off the card. Winky Wright more than anybody should understand what I’m going through. But, I can’t even get a response.”
Saunders tries not to let the uncertain climate bother him. “I just keep on doin’ what I’m doin’, and eventually I’ll get that two-day notice,” he said. “I’m always getting ready for fights, like I knew something was gonna come.”
Although he idolizes the old-school fighters who compiled more than 75 fights in their careers, he knows the current situation simply won’t allow for him to get to that point himself. “I won’t be able to do it, for the simple fact that I don’t have that vehicle to do it. I don’t have the promoter that will put me in for 75 fights. There’s not 75 guys out there who wanna fight me. I was averaging 6 or 7 fights a year when I started my career. This year I had actually only two fights,” he said. “I fought Danny Santiago in February and Chris Henry in October on 8-days’ notice after that. Guys don’t wanna fight me. Everyone wants the easy fight. I’m probably one of the few guys out there who actually wants the hard fight. It’s not even about what the public thinks about me. It’s about how I feel about myself.”
He’s used to taking on big challenges on short notice, but he still finds it hard to get fights. “Promoters won’t put their fighters in with a guy like me,” he said. “I fought Chris Henry on real short notice. I had just one week. They said, ‘We’ll get him.’ But they got a surprise, and I let everyone know, I’m always ready. So if you call me and your fighter can’t fight, he will get beat. If it’s a day notice, he will get beat.”
He’s used to being the underdog, and although he prefers to be in the best of shape if conditions are ripe, he can still contend when he’s not at 100 percent. “The thing is, I’m always in shape. I’m always in pretty much 10-round shape. But, I’m not at my ten round shape. I’m in an average fighter’s ten-round shape. At my 10 to 12-round shape, I can punch non-stop for the whole 10-12 rounds. When I got five or six weeks to train, that’s the shape I’m in,” he said. “My next fight, or probably not the next fight, but maybe the next serious fight, I’ll call it, I’ll be at the point I wanna be. We’re just trying to get something as far as being on the comeback. I contacted my promoter and said, ‘Listen, get me a fight, something. I want another fight before this year is up. I got three weeks before the year is up. That takes away that four or five week notice there.”
Although www.boxrec.com had him listed as being part of a tournament featuring Danny Santiago and Richard Hall, he contends that he wants no part of that deal. “It’s supposed to be for the IBA Light Heavyweight title, and I actually like the tournament,” he said. “But, I don’t have no knowledge of the tournament. I don’t even know how my name got in the mix of that. I’m scheduled to fight in February. I’ve got no knowledge of this tournament at all. I like the idea, but I just wish I knew more details of it. As of right now, I’m not fighting. Now I will gladly go beat Danny Santiago up. I will gladly go beat Richard Hall up. If that was the guy, but I don’t have no knowledge of this tournament’s dealings or nothing. Danny Santiago’s scheduled to fight on the 14th of this month, and I’m scheduled to fight the second half of the first round in February.”
Saunders is not too intrigued by some of the most recent commercial attempts to bring more attention to boxing. He downplayed the concept of the recently postponed Superfighter Tournament, featuring a 5 million dollar purse at stake in a three fight bracket with all the matches happening on one big night. The matches would have been four rounds a piece and would have featured heavier gloves and a revolutionary scoring system. Saunders said the idea was fine as long as the losses wouldn’t count, but as for it making an impact on the sport, he dismissed the thought.
He was just as critical of boxing’s burgeoning reality show. “The Contender is good, but it doesn’t have an effect on boxing one way or the other,” he said. “What The Contender does, it gives guys with those losses on paper a chance. A guy like myself. If I fought on The Contender, and I tried out for it, but they didn’t pick the light heavyweights, they picked them lighter guys. If I ever participated in The Contender, there would be a whole lotta beatdowns. I don’t understand why these guys can’t fight five rounds non-stop. I’d be givin’ a whole lotta beatdowns with those 10-ounce bricks on.”
He admits that he might change his mind, but he sees himself getting out of the game before the next five years is up. “In five years, I’ll be 37,” he said. “I’m planning on being done at 35, and I still hope that I can still put my gloves down at 35, and that’s on the fact that I’m a smart, intelligent guy. You see now I can speak, all my syllables are pronounced correctly, and I wanna be able to maintain that. I don’t wanna be famous. I just wanna be comfortable where I can take care of my family and have no worries. I hope that by 35 I can accomplish that and I’m good.”
As for his retirement plan, he’ll likely transition to the world of training other fighters, including his own offspring. “Right now I train amateur fighters for USA boxing, and I’ve done that for three or four years now. I have a couple Golden Gloves champions and a Junior Olympic champion. That’s what I probably will end up doing,” he said. “I love boxing, and I always wanna be around it. I work out all the time, and that’s always been one of my hobbies. Matter of fact, my son, Rayco Saunders, Jr., fights tomorrow, in a little show here in Pennsylvania. He’s got two gold gloves championships at 13 years old. That’s what I definitely probably will be doing. He loves it, and I know he’s not gonna wanna stop. I got a baby, too. He’s 17-months old, and he loves the gym. When he goes in the gym, he hits every bag. Some people exaggerate about that kind of stuff, but I’m serious. This guy can actually hit the speed bag. This guy actually hits the speed bag. He’s got his little timing perfect.”
He explained that he got where he is today by training, by being around the gym. He knocked one promoter’s fighter out in the amateurs, and the path to the professional ranks became clear. The promoter told him that with 12-ounce gloves and headgear, he’d kill the competition. Still, he had no championship in the amateurs. He said it was important back then, as it is now, to set “personal goals for myself. I done that all along. Once I went to the nationals, then I turned pro.”
He said he’s proud that he was the only fighter out of about 250 amateurs in Pennsylvania who made it to the nationals. Even then he wasn’t given due credit. “You’d think that they woulda done something, but they didn’t do nothin’ for me. But, when you fall down, you gotta get up, brush it off, and try again,” he said.
Ultimately, it’s about going on until he hits a wall he can’t walk through. “In the event that I can’t accomplish what I want to accomplish, I’ll move on,” he said. “I’m not just in it to take punches and not move nowhere on the chain.”
If Saunders has his way, he’ll snatch up at least one world title before he bows out, but even if he can’t accomplish that goal, he knows he can teach the next generation to avoid the mistakes he’s made. As a trainer, he’ll have the kind of knowledge and ability that will really command respect from a fighter. When he’s ready to move out of the pros, a few of his proteges will be marching right in. By the time he’s a grandfather, baby “War” will probably be following in his footsteps, too. Despite the rough start he endured in life, just being alive and not in prison right now is a major accomplishment for Saunders, but he’s done so much more than just survive against the odds. He’s helped a few more kids avoid the raw violence of the streets, including his own. By changing his ways he’s given his children something to strive for, and a father to be proud of.