{"id":125237,"date":"2020-12-03T00:45:16","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T21:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/7-year-old-boxer-ruby-tucker-packs-a-punch\/"},"modified":"2020-12-03T00:45:16","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T21:45:16","slug":"7-year-old-boxer-ruby-tucker-packs-a-punch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/7-year-old-boxer-ruby-tucker-packs-a-punch\/","title":{"rendered":"#7-year-old boxer Ruby Tucker packs a punch"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#7-year-old boxer Ruby Tucker packs a punch<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

\n

Float like a butterfly, sting like a second-grader.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy favorite punches are the uppercut and the hook,\u201d said Ruby Tucker, a 7-year-old boxer coming in at 47 pounds, standing at about 4 feet. \u201cI hope to be a professional boxer one day, like Laila Ali. She moves forward a lot, and uses one-twos when she does.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The pint-size athlete hones her boxing skills three to four days a week with her dad and trainer, Kijuan Tucker, who hopes to one day turn his tiny Tyson into a pro.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just a big fan of the sport,\u201d said Tucker, 36, who noticed his daughter\u2019s strength and agility at the age of 3 and decided to start training her informally after watching YouTube<\/a> videos to get a sense of best practices. \u201cShe has a natural, effortless form.\u201d <\/p>\n

A typical training day starts like this: Ruby wakes up at 6:30 a.m. and eats a healthy breakfast of toast, fruit and juice \u2014 \u201cThere\u2019s no soda in her diet, and we try and limit the candy,\u201d said Tucker. Then, she\u2019s off to spar with her dad for about an hour and fifteen minutes in a park near the family\u2019s home in South Brunswick, NJ. \u201cWe work on footwork, head movement, defense and jabs. We love throwing jabs,\u201d said the proud father of one. After a half-hour or so of cool-down time, it\u2019s off to virtual elementary school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n
\"Ruby
Ruby Tucker with her dad and trainer, Kijuan Tucker.<\/figcaption>
Courtesy of Kijuan Tucker<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Inspired by his work with his daughter, Tucker recently founded Zilla Boxing Club<\/a>, a youth boxing gym. Over the summer, he started training other local kids in the park, and then made the move to secure a brick-and-mortar facility in Elizabeth, NJ, which is set to open later this month. Packages range from $30 per week to a $100 monthly membership, which covers small group classes. <\/p>\n

\n
\"Ruby
Ruby Tucker<\/figcaption>
Courtesy of Kijuan Tucker<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Tucker said he hopes recent exhibition fights like Mike Tyson-Roy Jones Jr., plus a \u201cresurgence in combat sports\u201d like MMA and UFC fighting, will get kids pumped about boxing. He also anticipates that after months of being cooped up during the pandemic, parents will be eager to sign up their tots for activities that will help them release pent-up energy.<\/p>\n

Ruby said she\u2019s got her peers in her corner. \u201cMy friends think it\u2019s really cool that I box, and I teach them moves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The featherweight is committed to her sport. She studies videos of her idols, who include welterweight champion Errol Spence Jr., Muhammad Ali, Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao. Always looking to improve, she\u2019s currently focused on footwork, which her dad described as \u201cher Achilles\u2019 heel.\u201d \u201cWhen she learned to walk, she walked on her toes,\u201d said Tucker, who added that she had to wear braces to help with the problem.<\/p>\n

Now, with the help of a weekly private dance class, she shuffles, slides and pivots with ease in the videos her dad posts to social media<\/a>, to some 31,000 followers. Ruby has her own account<\/a>, too, and has nearly 10,000 fans.<\/p>\n

\"Ruby
Ruby Tucker<\/figcaption>
Courtesy of Kijuan Tucker<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since the tough-guy sport involves a lot of gear, the Tuckers have had to amass youth-size versions of gloves, mouthpieces, hand wraps, head guards, striking sticks, pads and heavy bags to properly train. Still, spars in Ruby\u2019s category are hard to come by for now. According to USA Boxing\u2019s official rules<\/a>, young kids can start in the PeeWee division at age 8, so Ruby can\u2019t box competitively until after her next birthday.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Ruby
Ruby Tucker<\/figcaption>
Courtesy of Kijuan Tucker<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

But the senior Tucker isn\u2019t worried about titles just yet. He\u2019s focused on fitness and fun, and said the rough-and-tumble pastime has plenty to offer beyond belts. \u201cBoxing encompasses everything about life; you get knocked down, you get back up,\u201d said Tucker. \u201cThe corner is your family, and the ring is life, and you have to face your opponent.\u201d <\/p>\n

And he said the violence of the sport at its highest levels just comes with the territory. \u201cLook, we\u2019re not baking cookies,\u201d said Tucker. \u201cWe watch the matches, and they can be brutal, but I present it as a sport, just like football is.\u201d <\/p>\n

He says he\u2019s not worried about raising an aggressor, either, and argues that boxing is as much a mental practice as a physical one.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m training my daughter to always talk her way through conflicts,\u201d said Tucker. \u201cBut if a bully backs you into a corner, you stand tall and do what you have to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But for Ruby, boxing is still all about family bonding. <\/p>\n

\u201cI like spending time with my dad,\u201d she said.\n <\/p><\/div>\n