WORCESTER—Khiary Gray is no longer undefeated nor the main event. In his last fight, he was knocked out in the second round.
Nevertheless, he still has big goals in the boxing ring.
“To fight as much as possible and hopefully get a world title shot,” he said Tuesday before training at Camp Get Right.
Gray, who turns 32 on Nov. 23, remains convinced he can win a world championship because of the confidence he gained by going the distance in an eight-round bout against Russian Bakhram Murtazaliev in San Antonio on July 17, 2021. Murtazaliev won a unanimous decision and he has gone on to capture the IBF World Super Welterweight championship and post a 22-0 record with 16 KOs. But he didn’t knock Gray out.
“After that I knew I could stay up there with the top guys,” Gray said.
That was Gray’s first fight in 28 months. The pandemic halted his boxing for a while, but then he got “distracted,” as he put it.
“I was hanging out with the wrong crowd and staying out,” he said. “I was slacking most of the time.”
Gray said he believes if he had continued to train during that time, he’d be a world champion by now.
“I always have regrets about that,” he said. “So now I’m trying to right my wrongs.”
Gray, a former New England and UBF International junior middleweight champion, won his first 13 bouts, including 10 by knockout, but his record is 5-7 since and he’s been knocked out three times.
On Friday, Nov. 1, Gray is scheduled to fight on the undercard of a Granite Chin Promotions boxing show at the DCU Center against Daniel Sostre of San Juan, Puerto Rico, in a junior middleweight bout that is scheduled to last six rounds.
Sostre, 40, is a former New England state welterweight champion, but his record is only 13-26-2 and he suffered 17 consecutive defeats before battling 2-10-2 Alfrey Roy to a draw in September in Bridgewater.
“He’s fought a lot of tough people, but he’s really just a journeyman,” Gray said. “It’s a must win fight.”
In Las Vegas on Aug. 10, Charles Conwell of Cleveland boosted his record to 20-0 by making Gray his 15th knockout victim. Conwell floored Gray with a left hook to his kidney on his right side and the bout ended at 2:32 of the second round.
“That was the first body shot that I never got up from,” Gray said. “I never got hit clean like that.”
The 5-foot-9 Gray hopes if he beats Sostre convincingly and then keeps winning, he’ll eventually earn a rematch against Conwell. Either way, he plans to keep boxing at least until he turns 35 in another three years. He still enjoys boxing.
“It’s just the fighting environment,” he said. “Everyone’s watching you and you’re putting on a show. Everyone loves when I fight. So why not keep going? I haven’t taken that many shots to end my career yet. So I’m still fresh and I’m still going.”
When he was younger, Gray used to go for the knockout from the opening bell. Now, he looks for the right time to land more accurate punches.
Gray, a 2011 Doherty High graduate, lives in Leominster with Nashleena Morales and he has two daughters, Khilani, 12, and Khileena, 7.
Gray cuts hair at Axe to Grind Barbershop on Shrewsbury Street and he’s taking classes to earn a Class A license to drive tractor-trailers.
Granite Chin Promotions is scheduled to present nine bouts, including five involving boxers who train in Worcester. Of those five, four train at Kendrick Ball Sr.’s Camp Get Right, including junior middleweight Jhon Danny Devers Rodriguez (1-0, 1 KO) of Worcester who will oppose Tymar Miles (0-3) of Poughkeepsie, N.Y., in a four-rounder.
Rodriguez, 24, won New England Golden Gloves championships in 2018 and 2022 at 165 pounds before turning pro on Aug. 9 at Polar Park at 154 pounds and knocking out Igor Santos of Woburn in the first round.
The 6-foot-2 Rodriguez has the height and reach that are tough to match.
“I have heavy hands,” the 2020 Doherty graduate said. “I have a good long jab. I’ve been knocking people out since the amateurs.”
Rodriguez sells guns at the Gun Parlor, which is one of the largest sponsors of his boxing career.
While being interviewed before he trained at Camp Get Right on Tuesday, Rodriguez held his daughter, Juliet, who will turn two on Nov. 25. Like Gray, he also wants to become a world champion. The two spar against one another and they’re looking forward to fighting at the DCU Center.
“It’s going to be great,” Rodriguez said. “Another hometown event. I’m grateful to be performing in front of my hometown crowd. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Also from Camp Get Right are welterweight Justin LaPorte (1-0, 1 KO) of Millbury who will face Rakim Johnson (7-23-1, 5 KOs) of Indianapolis and welterweight Dan Docimo (1-0, 1 KO) of Worcester who will take on Jaequez Jones (0-3) of Rocky Mountain, N.C. Both bouts are scheduled for four rounds.
Another Worcester boxer who does not train at Camp Get Right is Jake Paradise (8-3, 8 KOs) who will oppose Kevin “Big Gulp” Nagle (9-0, 7 KOs) of Scituate in an eight-round bout for the vacant World Boxing Council (WBC) USA Silver Heavyweight Championship.
Paradise, 30, trains with Bruce Alston and has overcome drug addiction, homelessness and suicidal depressive anxiety.
“I want to stand tall,” Paradise said, “and represent the underdogs in the world who have messed up, been counted out, and talked down to their whole life. Kids who don’t see a way out need to keep fighting like I have.”
In the 10-round main event, Josniel Castro (13-1, 9 KOs) of Boca Raton, Fla., will defend his WBC USA super welterweight title against Junior North American Boxing Federation champion Denzel Whitley (14-0, 8 KOs), of Holyoke.
Junior middleweight Edwine Humaine Jr. (8-0, 6 KOs) of Springfield will fight Jimmy Williams (18-15-2, 6 KOs) of New Haven, Conn., in an eight-rounder.
Adrian Valdez Reyes (1-0, 1 KO) of Chicopee will oppose Tracey Coppedge (0-4) of Wilson, N.C., in a four-round welterweight bout. Reyes, 17, is the youngest pro boxer in Massachusetts.
Super middleweight Steve Sumpter (9-1-1, 7 KOs) of Pittsfield will take on an opponent to be determined.
The weigh-in is scheduled to take place at 1885 Restaurant, 48 Green St., at 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31.
Tickets for the boxing show are on sale at www.ticketmaster.com. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the first bout is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
Bill Doyle has been a professional journalist for 47 years, most of them as a sports writer for the Telegram & Gazette. He covered the Boston Celtics for 25 years and has written extensively about golf, boxing and local high school and college sports. He also worked for the campus newspaper when he attended UMass-Amherst. He can be reached at billdoyle1515@gmail.com
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