Longtime Fort Worth boxing trainer Ricky Sanchez, 56, another casualty to COVID
Fort Worth’s boxing scene lost one of its most influential members as longtime local trainer Ricky Sanchez has died as a result of COVID-19.
Premier Boxing Club of Fort Worth announced that Sanchez, 56, died late Tuesday evening. He had been hospitalized for nearly a month fighting the illness.
His ex-wife, Cynthia Wallace, said Sanchez had briefly shown some improvement during his hospital stay but it “took a turn for the worse” and his body was unable to overcome it.
“He didn’t go down without a fight,” Wallace said.
Sports has lost so many people in 2020, and while the passing of a Ricky Sanchez doesn’t generate the attention of a Bob Gibson, the impact of this departure is just as significant in his own community.
While they are too often overlooked, and their presence and time taken for granted, communities don’t live without people like Ricky Sanchez. He was a glorified teacher, and constant mentor, to countless young men in Fort Worth.
Sanchez was a fixture in the youth boxing scene in Fort Worth for 25 years. He was an active part of training local fighters, and with the Golden Gloves.
Among the fighters he trained included WBA featherweight champion Steve “Super Kid” Cruz out of Fort Worth, and countless others.
Born in Coleman, Sanchez and his family moved to Fort Worth when he was young. He grew up in the Diamond Hill neighborhood, and graduated from Diamond Hill-Jarvis High School.
He started boxing when he was 6, and he eventually started boxing clubs all over Fort Worth, including the Diamond Hill Recreation Center and the Sycamore Recreation Center.
He also worked for the city of Fort Worth.
“Because he worked with so many kids he made such an impact on their lives,” Wallace said. “It was not just about boxing. He taught all of those kids other things. If they had other things going on in their lives, or maybe they were from a broken home, he loved talking to them. He would give them advice, and he liked to make a difference in a kid’s life.
“A lot of them would keep in touch. They would come back to the gym and they would see him again and tell a story and they would remember the advice he gave. He loved that because they listened, and he liked to make an impact on those kids.”
Sanchez and Wallace, who were married for 20 years, had five children together, three girls and two boys. Two of the sons boxed, as well as their oldest daughter.
Although they had been divorced for the last 10 years, they were amicable and worked at Premier Boxing together.
He survived by the couple’s five children, Chris, Ricky Aaron, Lydia, Alyssa and Miranda, and several grandchildren.
“It was a long 30 days waiting to see if Ricky would get back in the gym,” Wallace said. “His life was a love and passion not just for boxing but for kids and young adults. It saddens me that the last 25 years of coaching kids came to an end because of the virus.”
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 5:20 PM.
