.....Rayco Saunders started out innocence as the rest of us. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1974 to a seventeen-year-old single mother. He never knew his father. He learned violence by watching his mother stab his father many times, almost killing his supposed father. At age eleven, he watched his mother die of drug overdose. His eight-year-old brother and baby sister watched as the mother died from drug abuse.

.....Rayco grew up in a project; the family of his grandmother became closer to survive the neighborhoods. His grandmother primarily raised him, and her eight daughters. He tried to stay in school, and got suspended and expelled. Intelligent boys usually act out of boredom. Busy boys move around a lot and never buckle down to schoolwork.

.....By age fourteen, he faced arrest for homicide. He served twenty months in juvenile facility, went to court and beat the charges. He got released and joined the streets. Until age twenty, he got arrested for numerous legal issues. In 1994, he went to play basketball with some friends at a recreational center. While there, he saw numerous boxing photos on the wall, of such fighters as Michael Moorer, Evander Holyfield and others. The boxing coach, Chuck Schneff, asked if he knew how to fight. He learned this sport on the streets. In 1995, he received a shot in the left side of his chest. Recently, a death plot discovered by the Pittsburgh police. Two men wanted to bump him off. One of the men knew Mr. Saunders dated a beautiful gal, and wanted to take him out. You wonder how hard you must fall, and if you can ever get back up again.

.....He became a three time Pittsburgh Golden Glove Champion in 1996, 2001, and 2002. Rayco War Saunders became the Pennsylvania State Champion in 2002, and a member of the Pennsylvania National Golden Glove Team in 2002. He turned professional in August of 2002. He won the NABC Cruiserweight World Title in August of 2004.

... Rayco "War" Saunders, who is part of Sin City Boxing, makes no apologies for his checkered past; he only promises for a bright future.He strives to make a positive impact on the inner-city community. Infact, regularly donates tickets for his fights to local youth football and baseball teams.

.....At his title fight, he sponsored a section for members of the Coalition for Fathering Families, with which he marched with and served as a spokesman on a recent Father's Day event.

....."I don't view it as charity," Saunders said. "There's a lot of young males that are in my situation now. The male that made them -- I don't call them their father -- is not there. He's not taking them to boxing matches, to football and baseball games, like a father is supposed to do.

....."If I can bring kids to a fight, I'll do that. It's a chance for them to see something different than what's contained in their neighborhood." "You can't know where you're going if you don't know where you came from," Saunders said. "I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity."

Dedicated to his two beautiful sons, Rayco Saunders, Jr. & Jelani Nzinga Saunders.