Age: 30 (7/30/77)
Hometown: Newark, NJ
Record: 18-3-0, 12 KOs I View BoxRec.com Official Record Breakdown
Manager: Self Managed
Trainer: Nettles Nassir

Ever since he was very young and raised in the Dominican Republic - Jerson Ravelo wanted to be a fighter.

However, it would not be until 1989 and after he already immigrated to the United States that he let his intentions known.  One day, he hesitantly and reluctantly wrote a letter to his father about his desire to become a boxer.  Much to his surprise, the elder Ravelo showed support by introducing his then 12 year old son to the NJ Hall of Fame Boxing Gym in Newark, New Jersey. 

After support from his family along with extensive training, Ravelo captured the gold medal at the 1998 National Golden Gloves Championship in Biloxi, Mississippi.  The very same year he became a United States citizen.

Ravelo then proceeded to capture the gold medal at the U.S. Challenge Cup in 1999, beating highly ranked and future professional world champion Jeff Lacy.  Along with that win, Ravelo became one of the leading candidates to represent Team U.S.A. as a middleweight at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney Australia.

The path toward his Olympic dream took an unexpected turn when he lost a controversial decision to Lacy at the Olympic Trials, temporarily dashing his hopes of competing in Sydney.  Ironically, Ravelo never gave up his Dominican citizenship, which meant another chance at Olympic glory for his native homeland of the Dominican Republic.  He needed to win one of the three U.S. Olympic Qualifiers in order to compete in Sydney.  After a controversial and disheartening loss in the first qualifier, Jerson cemented a spot on the Dominican Team by winning the second qualifier in Tijuana.  But as fate would have it, Jerson suffered a controversial hometown decision loss in his opening bout at the Olympics.

Jerson turned professional January 27, 2001 in the famed Madison Square Garden on Lou DiBella’s Entertainment "Night of the Olympians" card where he walked away victorious after an early first round KO against Miguel Gutierrez.

After that historic win, Ravelo went ahead to win his first 13 professional fights, including a four-round unanimous decision against Manu Ntoh and technical knockout of Ted Muller, before losing to David Alfonso Lopez in 2004.

After the loss, Ravelo trained several months before taking on the Las Vegas based Muhhammad Said whose last victory was against Javier Jarreguei.  Ravelo won the 10-round majority decision, although most observers felt that Jerson had won nearly every round during the fight.

On October 14th, 2006, Ravelo faced off against Allan “Sweetness” Green.  However, the grueling fight was stopped short in the 8th round giving the victory to Allan Green. 

In March 2007, Ravelo was paired against the well respected Paul Buchanan at the Metro Radio Arena in Newcastle, England.  The hard fight featured both boxers landing multiple blows to the opponent – each trying to exact a toll on the other.  During one of these exchanges, Ravelo managed to break his right hand. However, the tough fighter continued with determination and vigor, winning the fight via unanimous decision in the 8th round.

After the loss to Buchanan, Ravelo fought against Andre Ward in the Grand Cayman Islands.  The powerful Ward eventually wore down Ravelo and in the eighth round, Ravelo was knocked down.  Moments later, Ravelo’s corner threw in the towel awarding Ward the KO.