Team Barron; (left to right) Head Trainer Dennis Rodarte, Ricardo Barron, 2008 US Olympian Luis Yanez, KO Artist Coach Red

If the name KO-N-1 is familiar to you, it should be. That's where 2008 United States Olympian, Luis Yanez, and "Handsome" Hector Beltran were schooled by trainer, Dennis Rodarte. Unlike most local coaches, Rodarte doesn't let just any fighter rock the KO-N-1 moniker; fighters have to earn the right. There's a limited amount of amateur fighters in Rodarte's stable and Barron's at the top of the list. "'Roc-It' is my top amateur,” Dennis says. "He's always shown it in the gym and that's why I've always expected so much from him. It wasn't easy moving from gym to gym for a while, and we lost some guys, but of my core group of amatuer's,'Roc-It' is the oldest. And it's funny, just like 'Roc-It' looked up to Luis and Hector, my younger guys are now looking up to him."

Assistant coach, Rogelio "Red" Garza accompanied Barron to Los Fresnos and though he's anticipated big things all along, was no less impressed.  "I could tell 'Roc-It' was nervous at first, but that's normal since this was his first big event.  Still, he went out there and put on a good show.  He fought a guy by the name of O'Shanique Foster, who has a pretty good jab.  Supposedly, Roger Mayweather has worked the mitts with Foster, trained him and all that and he has an in-and-out style that's pretty to watch, but in the very first round, 'Roc-It' caught him with some shots that changed his whole game plan.  I'm extremely proud of him and he's been working really hard for us.  I couldn't be more proud."

The next day, Barron defeated Keno Castaneda who, along with Foster, was expected to advance to Nationals.  They've each had 30 bouts or more and competed in national tournaments previously.  Now, most are wondering where Barron came from and the genesis of his nickname.

As Rodarte explains, "Most people think it's because he's fast like a rocket, but we call him that because he's gonna rock you.  He's gonna rock your world.  And we spell it R-O-C-dash- I-T."

Though younger (but naturally bigger), Barron occasionally spars with Yanez (as well as Beltran), who thinks very highly of him as well.  "If 'Roc-It' stays focused, nobody is stopping this kid.  Nobody,” the artist known as the "Latin Legend" says.  Ricardo actually participated in the filming of the "Grand Entrance" commercial shown on FOXSPORTSNET Southwest, hyping Yanez's debut. If you blinked you might have missed it, but Barron is the guy Yanez dropped during the faux fight that appeared in the advertisement.  Barron just laughs when asked how it feels to have been "KO'ed" on national television.  "It's cool.  People noticed me in there."

Barron's an intelligent (he attends Townview; yes that Townview), quiet, almost shy kid and you'd almost have to threaten him to get him to brag on himself.  I asked him to tell me what his strengths were and only after looking for the nod of assurance from his coaches did he elaborate.  "I have a lot of speed....I time guys pretty good.  And I have good footwork, I guess."  At this point, everyone laughed out loud.  The truth is, Ricardo is ridiculously swift in the delivery of his punches (I've watched a number of his fights and never ever seen an opponent beat him to the punch), has a built-in sense of rhythm and athleticism and has an inner fury that belies his ultra calm demeanor out of the ring.

"He's super-fast," Rodarte reveals.  "He's got Luis Yanez, Rau'Shee Warren, Roy Jones Jr. type of hand speed.  No one 'Roc-It' fights will have faster hands than him.  Now he just needs to learn to control his speed."

Rodarte and Garza feel that Barron's only negative is that he needs to relax more, learn to pace himself and become more aware of how much time is left in a particular round.  As confident as they are in him, KO-N-1 is realistic about Ricardo's 2012 Olympic chances.  "He'll move up to the open division next year and we'll see how he does.  But, if he just stays focused and stays in the gym, he'll be alright.  It'll be a roller-coaster ride and he'll be all over the state and country, but 'Roc-It" is good enough.  Luis did it, now it's 'Roc-It's' turn."