THE ART OF WAR
A KURT SCOBY STORY
Watching Kurt Scoby prepare for a fight in the back room of a venue is like watching NASA prepare to launch a rocket into Earth’s orbit. A million tiny key details all being calculated down to the closest quarter millimeter. A team of experts swirling around him, assisting in the preparation of take-off. The man himself took the time to stretch muscles most would not even know existed. A compact and muscularly dense frame on a fighter built like a Clydesdale that nobody ever believes fights at 140 pounds. A science of preparation that only the greats understand and a process of victory that few see and even fewer can execute. Kurt Scoby, or “Scoob” as he’s most widely known, was born in Duarte California the oldest of three children. Duarte is a city hugging the San Gabriel Mountains in the northern region of Los Angeles county.
Scoob credits his grandmother as the primary leader in the family raising him until she passed when he was 11. “That’s when I knew life wasn’t the way it was supposed to be.” This is when he had to learn to fend for himself and eventually be a leader in his family for his brother and sister that would be born to a different mother years later. It's hard for Scoob to bring up the memories of a childhood clearly rife with chaos. At an early age he struggled with fighting in school and speaks of it as it was only second nature due to the dysfunction that existed in the household, he lived in. “You are what your environment is”.
Duarte being a hotspot for LA gang violence and urban tension created the perfect environment for Kurt to take out his frustrations in all the wrong ways. If it wasn’t his natural athletic talent and the unquestionable pull to compete in sports, Kurt easily could have fallen victim to a life of darkness. Kurt found the sport of Football when he was 7 and this opened the door to a haven for Kurt. A sanctuary from which he could escape the realities of an outside world that at many times seemed as though they were crumbling all around him. The football field became the place where Kurt could let go of all of life’s misgivings and transform anger and sadness into thundering applause from stands full of roaring fans. Kurt’s mother passed away due to complications from lupus when he was a sophomore in high school. Another moment of heartbreak in a tumultuous upbringing. By this time Kurt was already well on his way to becoming one of the most heavily recruited running backs in the country. His high school highlights became a tapestry of utter domination; fans screaming
on their feet as Kurt Scooby would rip his way through crowds of defenders left watching in awe from their knees as the scoreboard flickered in the background. Kurt attended 5 different high schools in 4 years. He admits today that his pursuit of greatness had undesired effects on the man he was becoming. “Not having a father figure to guide me, I let that shit get to my head”. So began the growth of an ego that saw Scoob to close doorways for him in life as fast as they opened. “I was too big-headed to understand that these people really cared about me.”
A revelation that would rock his world and inspire him to leave Fresno State behind and move back home. Coming back to Duarte and transferring to Azusa Pacific University right outside his hometown to finish his football career. From 2015-2017 Kurt would rush for another 2,703 yards and 16 touchdowns. Scoob first tried his hand at boxing when he was in the 6th grade. He remembers the trainers shocked that it was his first time by how naturally he took to it. His mind raced back to the passion he had once found in the boxing gym as a boy and how quickly he had taken to it. By 2019 he had dropped from his playing weight of 215 to 152 pounds and competed for the California Golden Gloves as a novice. He won. In 2020 he turned pro and by 2021 he found himself training out of the infamous Gleason’s Gym in Brooklynn NY with Don Saxby and Leon “the cat” Taylor spearheading his development. On February 17th 2023, Scoob traveled to Topeka Kansas to fight on ShoBox; Showtimes premier proving ground for the sports
top prospects. In his biggest test yet, Scoob put the boxing world on notice with trouncing of John Mannu with a dominant stoppage in the second round. Although it must be said that the Kurt who fights out of Gleason’s today is a far different person than the kid who grew up lost in Duarte. It must be said that the events of Scoob’s life have clearly led him to a place of introspection and humbleness that is traditionally absent for so many great athletes who fly too close to the sun. In 2022 Kurt signed with Came To Believe, a boutique boxing management organization located in Southern California. It was from this partnership that it was decided that the bear would become his new logo and vigil to wear with pride; a symbol of the spirit that lives within him. “A bear is protective of all around it and that’s how I am outside of the ring. But when it's time to go, the bear is ready to go. When it's time to eat, it's time to eat.” Now 11-0, Kurt has set his sights on taking over the boxing world however he does it by taking his journey one moment at a time.
