The Fort Dodge native is getting back into his usual routine about six weeks after landing in a Des Moines hospital in a much-weakened condition caused by a bleeding ulcer.

“I’m still standing after all I went through,” he said. “It’s a miracle.”

Within his recent ordeal was a reminder for himself and perhaps an example for others about the power of personal will and determination.

“If you get knocked down, get back up,” Roby said. “If you get back up — you’ve got a heart.”

“You have to prove to yourself who you are because that’s going to make you,” he added.

That’s a lesson he’s strived to impart to young people he has worked with since his retirement from a professional boxing career in which he was the International Boxing Organization’s super featherweight champion in 1993-1994.

About six weeks ago, Roby was feeling exceptionally weak and generally lousy. He was admitted to a Des Moines hospital, where he was diagnosed with a bleeding ulcer. His weakness, he said, was caused by the loss of blood through the ulcer.

He said he was in the hospital for seven days. During that time, he said he received six and a half pints of blood.

Since his discharge from the hospital, Roby has been on a modified diet of mostly green vegetables washed down with water with some lemon in it.

Roby began boxing when he was 16 years old and trained under the late Bud Fair, of Fort Dodge. After a successful amateur career, he turned professional and moved to Long Beach, California. He fought 48 professional bouts. In addition to the IBO super featherweight championship, late in his career he was the Capital Boxing Promotions super middleweight champion. He now lives in Des Moines.