Ren has had a lifelong mission against bullies, beginning when he was five years old in Harlingen, Texas. During recess, a large third grader needlessly shoved his friend Sally, also in kindergarten, into a swingset. Ren snapped, running full speed into the kid as he left, laughing. It took two teachers to drag him off the boy, one of whom witnessed the shoving incident and later told Ren‘s mom that he had protected the little girl. Later, his father praised his response. Ren‘s grandfather, Donald, was a boxing promoter in the Midwest during the depression. Ren‘s dad, Richard, was taught to box professionally and began teaching Ren when he was 7 years old. The family moved from Texas to Miami to New York, and his attitude toward bullies never wavered.

He began training in karate with Art McConnell in Glen Cove, New York, in 1971. After a winter in Colorado training in taekwondo, Ren returned to New York. He moved to Maine in 1973, where he began teaching. He also began training with Seung Ook Choi. Mr. Choi taught his system, which combined Korean styles, Shaolin, and boxing. This system is extremely complex, emphasizing boxing footwork, punch/kick combinations, and professional counterattacking. Mr. Choi, at the age of 18, won the All Asian championship, and subsequently studied for two years in a Shaolin monastery.

Upon his return to Korea, Ki Soon Kim, who became the first Korean boxer to win a world championship in boxing, needed sparring partners. Boxing was introduced to Korea in the early 1960s, and Kim was aware of Choi’s reputation and martial arts skills. Although Choi had never boxed, he undertook boxing, learning from Kim, and quickly became Kim’s premier sparring partner. Kim‘s victory over Nino Benvenuti for the world middleweight championship in 1966 sent shockwaves in the sport and spearheaded the growth and popularity of boxing in Korea and Asia.  The experience also put Choi’s knowledge and fighting skills to an unprecedented level. No one in the world at that time combined martial arts and boxing, incorporating them into one system. Mr Choi developed advanced fighting drills, including foot movement offensively and for countering attacks, and kick- punch combinations using every type of kick and punches to cover every angle of engagement.

These drills, along with Ren’s one-on-one training with Mr. Choi, became staples in Ren’s fighting style and teaching framework. Ren was a nationally ranked black belt fighter in the late 1970s and managed and trained seven world-ranked kickboxing professionals through 2001, including the female U.S. middleweight champion, 2 male fighters also ranked #2 in their divisions, and a world champion.  He’s a 7th-degree black belt and was inducted into the International Blackbelt Hall of Fame in 2014.