Tyrone Arzeno’s long road leads back home to Philly on Oct. 31

Tyrone Arzeno has spent most of his boxing life knowing he belonged.

He knew it when he was an amateur sharing rings with fighters who would become Olympians and world champions. He knew it when he beat Shakur Stevenson as an amateur, when he won the 2012 National PAL Championships and when he took silver the following year at the National Golden Gloves.

What Arzeno has struggled to do is stay in one place long enough for professional boxing to reward him for it.

On October 31, Arzeno will return to Philadelphia to face Jasir Junior, bringing him back to his hometown for the first time since his professional debut nearly ten years ago.

That first homecoming did not go the way he envisioned.

Arzeno turned professional in Philadelphia in 2017 against a more experienced pro from Kyrgyzstan and lost a split decision. He would not fight again for five years.

Now, at a point when many fighters with similarly interrupted careers might have already moved on, Arzeno believes he is finally arriving at the beginning.

“The opportunity is real good. I’ve been waiting for something like this for a while,” said Arzeno (5-2, 5 KOs) of the card, which will take place at First District Plaza and is promoted by Teflon Promotions.

“I’m guessing they’re real high on him just because they’re picking me to fight him. I’m a vet in this. I’ve been around for a while. He’s a kid with one fight, so I don’t know much of him. But I’m thinking he don’t know much of me neither.”

For Arzeno, the significance of the fight goes well beyond another date on the schedule.

It represents a homecoming, a return to the weight class where he believes he belongs and another step in a career revival guided by trainer and manager Percy Gayanilo.

Arzeno has won four straight fights in Colombia over the past 14 months since joining Gayanilo and is now based out of Park Elite Boxing Academy in Roselle Park, N.J. More importantly, he says he is finally fighting at his natural size.

His only other professional defeat came in 2022, a decision loss against Andre Donovan in Washington D.C., when he weighed 121.5 pounds. Arzeno didn’t fight for nearly three years after that set back.

Arzeno now plans to compete at 112 pounds.

“My losses came so much more from just bad matchmaking and not fighting in the weight class that I should be fighting,” Arzeno said. “Now we’re at the weight that I should be fighting, and it just feels good coming back home to Philly.”

He knows he is being brought in as the “opponent” against the 21-year-old Junior (1-0, 1 KO), a fighter out of Newburgh, N.Y. who has won national titles of his own. Arzeno believes that they’re now getting the best version of him.

“I know he the favorite, but it’s gonna be something I’ma show,” Arzeno said. “Me at 108, 112, I’m unstoppable.”

Gayanilo likes the matchup as well and isn’t concerned about Junior’s own pedigree.

“Tyrone’s opponent has one pro fight, a four-rounder. He is still a kid. Tyrone’s experience and power will be too much for him,” said Gayanilo.

Arzeno’s confidence comes from a resume’ that he built from the ground up in Pennsylvania.

He began boxing at age 13 after his father moved him from Philadelphia to Allentown. There he met coach Luis Melendez, a former pro who once fought world champions Arturo Gatti and Frankie Toledo, at the Allentown Boxing Gym. At first, boxing was simply somewhere to go that wasn’t home.

“What got me into boxing was much more me trying to find something to do and be good at and get out of home. I ain’t really like being home due to a whole bunch of situations,” said Arzeno, who estimates his amateur record to be around 128-9.

“Once I fell in love with boxing, it was just, I can’t get out of it. I was always in the gym.”

Arzeno says they fought three times, with Stevenson winning twice and Arzeno taking one. Arzeno said he jumped at the chance to face Stevenson on a day show when he was a newcomer due to Stevenson’s established reputation.

“Shakur was a kid that, when I started boxing, everybody already knew him,” Arzeno said. “He was already doing great things and achieving things. He was already a name.”

Their paths crossed twice more. Arzeno says he defeated Stevenson after winning gold at the National PALs, while Stevenson later won their third meeting at an AIBA international tournament.

The lesson stayed with Arzeno long after both fighters left the amateurs.

“You could do anything you set your mind to,” Arzeno said. “I’m the type of person that I don’t quit until I get the results that I want.”

Arzeno also shared the ring with 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Nico Hernandez, losing a decision in their National Golden Gloves final. His amateur success left him with one lingering regret.

“My biggest accomplishment that I would have loved to have was being an Olympian,” Arzeno said. “I didn’t accomplish that. But overall, I was just grateful and happy that I was one of the elite fighters at that time at my weight class.”

Sometimes Arzeno watches what they accomplished and thinks about where he might have been had his own career followed a straighter line. 

“When I look at those guys and what they went on to doing, like Nico went on to be an Olympian, Shakur Stevenson an Olympic silver medalist and all the achievements he’s gotten in the pros, that breaks me down sometimes,” said Arzeno, who became a father shortly after becoming an adult and moved back to Philadelphia. “Just off the fact that, damn, I took the time off when I’m at that level and I was at that level.”

Arzeno feels that their success proves he was correct all along in believing that he belonged among the best.

“If the guys I’d have beat or lost to would have went on to do nothing, then it’s like, damn, who can I grasp onto that shows me or proves to me, ‘Yo, you belong here.’” Arzeno said.

“Those type of things bring out the best in me. The guys that have the accomplishments, that people are high on – that’s something that pushes me and motivates me to actually go out there and train that much harder.”

After returning to Philadelphia, Arzeno trained around Philadelphia champions like Jaron “Boots” Ennis, Danny Garcia, Stephen Fulton, Tevin Farmer and Jason Sosa, plus Raymond Ford, a New Jersey-based fighter who won a world title at 126 pounds.

Being a pro from a city where safe matchmaking is unheard of had its drawbacks, too.

“It was hard being from Philadelphia and every fight is a war and not having a lot of small fighters around or people to invest in you,” he said. “It was hard, but we’re on track.”

Arzeno has always just wanted a fair shake at the pros. He feels that begins with October 31.

“Once I’m able to come back and tell my story on why it took so long, then people will probably be like, okay, I know it’s taking a while and it’s just the things that people go through called life,” Arzeno said.

“This the beginning of something great. Once I show out how I’m preparing to show out and how I’m mentally preparing to show out, it’s gonna be different calls and different opportunities.”

For tickets, Call Percy Gayanilo at 201-736-5147.