Mowry's No. 1
SAXONBURG — Steve Mowry is in no hurry — except when he gets in the cage.
The 2011 Knoch graduate, standing 6-foot-9, 240 pounds, has been making quick work of his amateur MMA opponents and has been drawing attention throughout the country.
Now 7-0 with four of those wins coming inside of two rounds, Mowry has been declared the No. 1 amateur MMA heavyweight out of 353 active United States Midwest fighters by the Tapology Regional Rankings.
“He's a beast in there,” said Ryan Covert, who works with Mowry at the Butler Cubs gym. “No one can hang with him. He could turn pro right now.”
Mowry, 23, is biding his time in that regard. He is headed to Texas in October to spar with professional UFC heavyweight title contender Jared Rosholt for three weeks.
Rosholt has an upcoming fight against a 7-foot opponent.
“I've been working out with UFC pro Chris Dempsey (from Ambridge) and he has the same manager as Rosholt,” Mowry said. “When Rosholt was looking for a bigger guy to spar with, Chris told his manager he had the perfect guy.
“This is a big blessing for me. Sparring with Jared, I'll be able to gage just where I'm at and what I need to work on.
“I'll turn pro before too long. I'm looking forward to getting paid for this, to not have people trying to hit me in the head for nothing anymore,” Mowry added.
Mowry's last fight was in June at the Family Sports Center in Butler. He stopped Chris Araujo by submission at 1:37 of the second round.
Mowry works on his boxing and striking skills twice a week with Covert at the Cubs Hall. He gets his jiu jitsu work in twice a week at the Wrecking Crew in New Castle.
“When the time is right, Steve will go pro,” Covert said. “He can dominate people. This guy is the real deal.”
Mowry anticipates turning professional “within a few months” once he fine-tunes his skills in the cage.
“I want to be as good as I can be, as well-prepared as possible for when I make that jump,” he said. “I'm going to be sparring against a world-class UFC fighter.
“I've always loved the competition and the fighting. That's why I do this. I'm putting a lot of work into this and I'm happy with where I'm at right now.”
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