Channeling Competitiveness

Ryan Karl has been channeling frustrations through athleticism since childhood, often turning calamity into serenity, 

“When I was in fifth grade, our house burned down while we were out of town. We lost everything. I remember walking into school as kids were handing me money, saying, ‘This is from our parents.’ Thinking about it now, I get pretty emotional and it brings me to tears,” said Karl, recalling his time in Cameron, Texas.

“We lived in Cameron for another year until moving to Melano in seventh grade and starting school there. I played all of the sports I could play every year except for basketball. I played pee wee football and made it to states in track. I’ve always been competitive in everything, using sports as an outlet for things that happen in life.”

Karl’s foray into boxing in Waco, Texas, gave the 11-year-old an avenue to express his natural aggression.

“My Mom told the coaches I was in fights all of the time, and they said, ‘Well what do you expect? He’s a skinny, red-headed freckle-faced white boy.’ We had a boxing bag in the house, and my Dad taught my brother and I how to fight,” said Karl of his father, Darrel. 

“I was always in scraps. If someone said something about my family, my first reaction was to hit them. I can’t remember one time getting beat up. I always excelled at individual sports, so I fell in love with boxing.”

After his father opened a gym in Cameron, Karl “trained after football practice and was too tired to get in trouble,” adding, “I was expected to win, and, most of the time, I did. You can attribute that to my parents’ pushing me. I wanted to pursue my goal to become a world champion.”

Karl soon entered the Houston-based Plex Gym of renowned trainer Ronnie Shields, who has guided 154-pound champions Erislandy Lara and Jermell Charlo. 

“I did well sparring four rounds with Danny O’Connor and Ronnie invited us back,” said Karl, who went 108-20 as an amateur, earned a title in the 2012 Ringside Tournament in Kansas City, Mo., and a bronze medal at the 2013 Nationals in Spokane, Washington.

“I won a handful of Golden Gloves tournaments in San Antonio and Austin in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and I won the Houston Open Ring Nationals in 2012, earning the Outstanding Fighter in that event.”

Karl “would wear Jeans and a cowboy hat to all of my amateur fights in San Antonio and Dallas, prompting everyone to go, ‘Yeehaw, here comes the cowboy!,’” he said. 

“It was funny when I first started boxing, but then, it was something that stuck. Finally, one day, Ronnie told us, ‘If you’re ready to turn pro, lemme know. I’ll help you in any way that I can.’”

A 22-year-old Karl stopped his first five professional opponents in 2014. Karl won all six of his bouts in 2015 as well.

“I was strong, tough in great shape, throwing a million punches,” said Karl. “Simmons was the first fighter I didn’t stop. I knocked him down in the first round, but I hurt my hands.”

Overcoming Tragedy

In 2016, Karl scored an eight-round unanimous decision over Luis Solis in June, followed by a two-knockdown, fourth-round stoppage of Jose Felix Quezada in September, bringing his record to 13-0 (9 KOs). 

Karl endured the November 2016 passing of Shields’ 48-year-old assistant, Todd Harlib, after defeating Quezada, this, after having already experienced the death of his 1-year-old sister, June Abbriella “Ella,” from a heart defect on New Year’s Day, 2009. His wife of seven years, Madison, expects the December 22 arrival of their first daughter to be named in honor of his sister. The new infant will join brothers, Jace, 6, and Jack, 1.

“I knocked down Quezada twice in that fight. Todd was a big inspiration for me that night as he had been in every fight,” said Karl, who wears his sibling’s name on his trunks. “Right now it’s all about my wife and children. I want my kids to see me stand tall as a Christian man and a world champion.”

Karl went 2-2 and was stopped twice over the course of his next four bouts, his ninth- and fifth-round losses to Eddie Ramirez (February 2017) and Kevin Watts (April 2018) flanking eight-round unanimous decisions in July and November 2017 over Carlos Winston Velasquez and Kareem Martin, the latter falling to 9-2-1 (3 KOs).

Karl registered three knockouts in 2019 comprising those in the fifth round of his rematch with Watts (January), a first-rounder opposite David Morales (June) and another fifth-rounder over Bergman Aguilar (November), rising from a first-round knockdown against Aguilar. 

“Nobody likes to lose, but those guys made me more determined,” said Karl of Ramirez and Watts, who rose to 16-0 (11 KOs) and 12-2 (5 KOs). “My work ethic has improved. I’m on the get-back trail and I’m hungrier than ever.”

Unfortunately, Karl would suffer defeat in his next bout. On October 31, 2020, he was stopped in six rounds by WBA 140-pound Champion Mario Barrios at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. An accidental clash of heads opened a bad cut on Karl's forehead in the fateful round. He was stropped moments later.

"I feel fine but it was a hard shot that I got hit with," said Karl. "It was a tough, good, close fight. It was a good headbutt. I was bleeding pretty good but overall I feel fine. I'm not a sore loser. I come to fight, that's what I expected. So congratulations to Mario on the win. We'll move on from here."

Karl bounced back from that loss on August 7, 2021, winning an eight-round unanimous decision over Edgar Ramirez at the Armory in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Then on February 5, 2022, he would lose a hard-fought 10 round unanimous decision to Omar Juarez.