New York, April 27—Popular Gary Kid Stark, Jr. (18-1, 8 KO’s) had the right to be depressed after his controversial loss to Mike Oliver on Showtime’s nationally televised monthly series, ShoBox on February 16, the first setback of his pro career. Everyone but the three judges thought that Stark was the victor..
“Sure, I was a little depressed,” says the Staten Island super bantamweight, “but I have good people around me like my father, my manager Ben Cognetta, and a lot of people came to my aid and lifted my spirits. My promoter, Lou DiBella gave me good advice and was by my side. He told me: ‘Keep your head up, Kid, you are going to be a champion one day, you are one of my best fighters.’ That kept my sprits up, I said: ‘maybe I can do this boxing thing.’”
So, the diminutive Stark has been training in earnest for his Broadway Boxing return against Andres Ledesma this Wednesday night at Manhattan Center, and has had “a great camp,” according to the youngster, training locally in Coney Island, Park Hill and Staten Island.
Stark has added a few other sports – namely basketball and softball – to his training regimin, because “it gives me another outlet, and helps me to stay in shape and helps develop other skills, instead of staying home all day and thinking only about the fight.
“I am in a corporate basketball (a point guard, of course), and a softball league,” adds the Kid. “I play shortstop, and swing a real good stick. But we have been needing pitchers, so I have pitched a few times, and believe it or not I throw an underhand knuckleball, I know how to do it.”
Young Stark possesses a great attitude to go along with his outstanding boxing skills, yet the loss still stings.
“Even though people thought I won the fight, when I look at my record, I still have a loss at the end of the day,” he reflects. “They can say that I didn’t really lose, but everyone else can go to sleep, but to me it messes up my bank account. This is a business. I want to live in a nice house, drive a nice car, those people can go to sleep, but I can’t get two back to back. So I am training very hard so that it won’t happen again.”
Always ready for action, Gary “Kid” Stark, Jr.