Sebastian Mazeneth wins NY Ring Masters 143-pound championship
NEW YORK — Bay Ridge boxer Sebastian Mazeneth is now the welterweight king of New York.
The 22-year-old Brooklynite capped off his ironman run in the New York Ring Masters Championships (formerly the N.Y. Golden Gloves), winning seven straight fights to wrap up the 143-pound open class title and earn a spot in the National Golden Gloves tournament.
Mazeneth put the finishing touches on his championship this past week, defeating Angel Perez of Mendez Boxing Gym on Thursday, April 10 at Madison Square Garden, then beating him once more on Saturday, April 12 at New York Fight Club in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn.
For Mazeneth, the championship was sweet vindication after years of hard work.
“Many times I’ve been overlooked, doubted and seen as the ‘tough guy who can’t box’ but that never deterred me. I work harder than anyone and had no doubt that it would show one day. I proved a lot of people wrong,” said Mazeneth, who boxes out of the Sweatbox Gym in the Sunset Park section of Brooklyn.
Mazeneth was born in Barranquilla, Colombia and moved to Bay Ridge at the age of seven. He was a football standout at Fort Hamilton High School, making the All City and New York All Star Football Team in 2020 and 2021, playing both the cornerback and safety positions.
Away from the ring, Mazeneth is a senior at the College of Staten Island who is majoring in Finance and is expected to graduate later this year.
Mazeneth’s first championship comes just two years after he started competing in boxing. He had been a runner-up in his first tournament back in 2023, and even earned a silver medal at his first national tournament, the USA Boxing Summer Festival in Wichita, Kansas last June. Mazeneth won his first ever international fight in May of 2024, knocking out former Danish national champion Mads Christensen in Nuuk, Greenland.
The road to the New York title was longer than any national tournament, as he had to defeat a seemingly never-ending list of challengers, including French national champion Bastien Martinez and 2019 New York champion Xavante Felton.
With the victory, Mazeneth adds his name to a long list of fighters who had previously won this tournament, including boxing legends like Sugar Ray Robinson, Floyd Patterson and Riddick Bowe.
Trainer Ryan Songalia says it isn’t an accident that Mazeneth has gotten to this point.
“I’ve been involved in boxing for decades and can confidently state that there is no one who works as hard as Sebastian does. The sacrifices he makes, the dedication he shows, it’s why he has gotten where he is as quickly as he has. What he does away from the spotlight is what earns him the victories on the big stage,” said Songalia, who trains Mazeneth alongside Sweatbox owner Argenis Arce.
Next, Mazeneth is heading to Tulsa, Oklahoma to compete in the National Golden Gloves, which take place from May 12-17 at Arvest Convention Center. There, he will look to prove himself as the best amateur boxer at his weight in the country.
“This is just the start. Me and my team are getting right back to work and next month I’ll be taking over the National Golden Gloves. This makes me happy but more than anything it just made me even hungrier. I will show even better skills soon and you all will be seeing a lot more of me on big stages,” said Mazeneth.
Other open class champions include 176-pound Reese Mistretta, who joined his mother Desiree as the first mother-son combo to win the tournament, plus 198-pounder Xavier Wilcher, 132-pounder Michael Algieri and 119-pound women’s champion Jayshannet Zapata.