The fighting Moreu family is girding for a momentous 2024

Mar. 10—For Albuquerque's fighting Moreus, 2024 is a year of transition and possibility.

Sharayha Moreu, 24, made her professional boxing debut last July with a victory in Atlantic City, New Jersey. By this time next month, she'll have taken a far deeper plunge into that pool.

Yoruba Moreu Jr., 18, an amateur, is scheduled to compete at 125 pounds this week in the USA Boxing National Open at the Albuquerque Convention Center. By the time the tournament ends on Saturday, he'll know far more about what the rest of the year — and beyond — holds for him.

Meanwhile, Yoruba Moreu Sr. oversees their training as a single parent of four with a full-time job. His mission as trainer and father is to make the right decisions at the right time.

First up: Yoruba Jr.

In December, "Little Ru" won his first fight at the U.S. Olympic Trials in Lafayette, Louisiana despite having suffered a fractured rib in training. He lost his second-round bout after aggravating the injury in the first bout.

Healthy now, he enters the National Open in his hometown with unbridled optimism.

"Everything feels right," he said. "I feel like this one might be my tournament coming up."

Moreu Jr. is scheduled to face Georgia's Alberto Sostre in his opening bout on Monday. The session is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m.

The Olympic pursuit, Moreu Sr. said, was never so much a cherished goal as simply part of the process. But since Moreu Jr. is only 18, should he stay in the amateurs and shoot for 2028?

Not necessarily, the younger Moreu said. By the end of the year, he might have joined his sister in the pro ranks.

Or not.

"Right now," he said, "my plans are these two tournaments, (the National Open), and then we've got Golden Gloves. From there, we're gonna see what my coaches are looking at, how they're gonna evaluate me and see if I'm ready for that next step.

"If not, no need to rush."

Nor has his big sister been in a hurry.

Until now.

Sharayha Moreu stayed in the amateurs for more than a decade, traveling all over the United States and representing the U.S. in international tournaments. Her father resisted many an offer from many a professional entity, waiting and looking for the right fit.

He and her daughter believe they've found it in Fighters First, an Atlanta-based management company, which signed Sharahya in the fall of 2022.

It was not until nine months later that she debuted as a pro, defeating Janaisa Morandin by unanimous decision in Atlantic City. She's scheduled for pro fight No. 2 on March 30 in San Antonio, Texas against Jessie Clark (pro debut).

Shortly thereafter, the pool gets deeper. Moreu has signed with the Philadelphia franchise of the Team Combat League, an enterprise scheduled to begin its second season on March 28. In TCL events, each team's fighters contest one-round bouts; the outcomes are totaled to determine the winning team.

Moreu will see the quality of her opposition improve greatly in the TCL. The pay and the experience gained, she said, make the move worthwhile.

"I'm getting really great money per week, and there'll be, like, former world champions that are gonna be part of it," she said. "That's great for me."

Moreu Sr. is confident his daughter is in good hands as she moves deeper into her pro career.

San Antonio attorney Desi Martinez, who's promoting the March 30 card, is a business associate of Fighters First CEO Adrian Clark.

"Everything they're doing is first class," Moreu Sr. said, adding that his daughter's paycheck — he declined to provide an amount — will be substantial.

As for the Team Combat League, Sharahya Moreu said she's formed a solid relationship with Philadelphia Smoke head coach Bob Kane. It helps that Las Cruces' Austin Trout, a former world champion and a Moreu family friend, is coaching the TCL's Houston franchise.

Trout was hoping to have Moreu on his team, and Sharahya admits to some guilt pangs. Philadelphia won out, she said, because she has a friend there she can stay with and because the Moreus have family in the area.

Moreu Sr., meanwhile, shares his son's optimism entering this week's National Open. The experience Moreu Jr. gained last year at USA Boxing Nationals and the Olympic Trials, his father said, has proved invaluable.

"People who watch are gonna see something," Moreu Sr. said, "that they haven't seen in a very long time from a fighter in New Mexico."

NM REPRESENTED: A total of 59 New Mexico fighters are registered for this week's National Open, which is bringing more than 800 boxers — not to mention coaches and parents — to Albuquerque in five divisions: Elite (age 16 and over), Junior (14-15), Intermediate (12-13), Bantam (10-11) and Pee Wee.

Exact ages of the boxers can vary from division to division, depending on birth dates.

Albuquerque's Leroy Clark and Las Cruces' Ariana Carrasco, who like Moreu Jr. competed in the Olympic Trials, both are entered.

Clark, who won the 203-pound title at the 2023 USA Boxing Summer Festival in Lubbock, Texas, is entered at 203-plus in the National Open. He's seeded No. 1.

Carrasco, who competes for the U.S. Army team based in Fort Carson, Colorado, is the top seed in the women's 146-pound bracket.

Moreu Jr. is the No. 3 seed at 125 pounds.

Clark and Carrasco, with limited participants in their weight classes, are not scheduled to fight until Thursday.