Best I Faced: Mariana Juarez

In a rustic that gave start to a few of the most extraordinary fighters in historical past, making a reputation for oneself requires a ton of expertise, however it additionally requires a particular form of braveness and willpower to face out towards such nice competitors.

Mariana Juarez checks all these containers, and extra.

As considered one of Mexico’s feminine boxing pioneers, she is accustomed to seeing her accomplishments preceded by the phrase “the primary.” From taking part (and shedding) within the first-ever official card that includes feminine fighters in Mexico Metropolis (after just one month of boxing coaching) to being the primary feminine fighter to grace the duvet and the centerfold of a problem of Playboy, “La Barbie” continues gathering firsts and highs and titles as she extends her already legendary ring run past something she had imagined as a bullied baby rising up in a tough Mexico Metropolis ‘hood.

This previous Friday, Could 22, Juarez defeated Alejandra Soto in 4 rounds to grow to be the primary girl to succeed in 55 wins, thus changing into the winningest feminine fighter of all time (surpassing Regina Halmich and her legendary 54-1-1 run, a minimum of within the W column).

Which results in one other first: the one you might be studying proper now, as Juarez turns into the first-ever feminine boxer to be featured in The Ring’s Greatest I Confronted collection.

“I began practising fight sports activities as a matter of private protection, however as I discovered extra about boxing and its self-discipline, and what I felt after I noticed different children placing on their gloves and preventing after which doing it myself, I fell in love with boxing fully,” stated Juarez in a phone interview. “I made it part of my life. It’s been 23 years since I stepped right into a boxing gymnasium for the primary time. I’m very pleased. It hasn’t been simple as a result of there have been no different girls within the gymnasium, however doing it with ardour and love for the game is what allowed me to realize such nice challenges.”

Earlier than changing into concerned about boxing, and rising up within the Santa Ursula neighborhood in Mexico Metropolis, Juarez harbored desires of changing into an expert soccer participant… in an all-male staff, an unimaginable dream spurred by a medal she obtained as a 5-year previous for being the one woman taking part in soccer in an in any other case all-male regional league.

Though her love of soccer by no means died (she grew up solely blocks away from the legendary Aztec Stadium, and even at present she coaches a soccer staff in her spare time), Juarez present in boxing a way more open path ahead, a totally clean slate through which she might blaze her personal path and forge her personal future.

Even by her personal account, she received significantly greater than what she bargained for.

“I by no means imagined this,” stated Juarez, in reference to her new report. “I simply needed to be a world champion, I didn’t know what number of fights I must do to make it occur. It wasn’t simple, however I by no means imagined that I’d be the lady with probably the most wins ever in skilled girls’s boxing. I’m very pleased now to be taught that every one the sacrifices I’ve [made] have been worthwhile, that they all the time result in being higher daily. I vow to proceed preventing to fulfill extra challenges and attain extra objectives.”

After shedding two of her first three bouts, and after discovering herself working round a turnstile with a bunch of 4 or 5 different girls preventing towards one another for lack of higher choices, Juarez determined to strive her luck within the U.S. the place she “landed with a pair of gloves, a head guard and 100 {dollars}” in her pocket, by her personal account.

That was, nonetheless, the start of a chapter that will take her, six years into her profession, to South Korea for her first world title combat.

“Initially they have been chanting her identify, however because the combat progressed they began chanting ‘Juarez, Juarez’ and on the finish of the combat they acknowledged that I used to be superior,” stated the 41-year-old, describing her first title-winning efficiency towards In-Younger Lee in Yongin, South Korea. “I had a knot in my throat, listening to the nationwide anthem there, and fulfilling my dream and changing into a world champ in a unique nation was unbelievable.”

The “lower than credible” issues saved rolling in, generally for the incorrect causes.

“One among my most tough fights was in China, towards a North Korean fighter, proper on the border with North Korea,” reminisces Juarez, remembering her first title-losing effort just a few hundred miles away from the place she obtained that very same belt, whereas making an attempt to defend it for the primary time. “It was filled with North Korean navy personnel, in a really hostile setting the place one couldn’t even speak. It was bizarre as a result of I had my opponent cornered and I used to be punishing her, after which the referee intervened to guard her, and after I went to a impartial nook pondering they have been going to provide her a depend they ended up elevating her hand and stopping the combat in her favor.

“They took one hour to clarify to me what had occurred. It was tough for me, they utilized the principles as they needed, and also you’re not solely preventing your opponent but in addition the entire state of affairs. It was very unhappy, however it taught me to be extra ready and to be taught extra about the place I used to be going to combat.”

The highlights of her 23-year profession are far too many to say, however her greatest moments embody her WBC feminine flyweight title win over Italy’s beforehand unbeaten (newbie or professional) Simona Galassi in 2011 adopted by seven profitable defenses, her two-fight collection towards Japan’s power-punching Ryo Togo (a hasty stoppage within the first spherical adopted by a call win), and her wars towards nice fighters comparable to Ava Knight, Daniela Bermudez, Naoko Fujioka, Tenkai Tsunami, Susie Ramadan and plenty of extra.

As with every different fighter, injustices and heartbreak didn’t elude Juarez. She received pregnant in Denver simply as her husband was deported again to Mexico. She adopted him again house, penniless. She suffered violence at house and separated from her daughter’s dad, being left alone to begin once more from scratch – and with one other mouth to feed. However as is all the time the case, ache solely made her stronger and extra aware about the best way her fellow girls have been struggling the identical conditions in all places.

“I want to assist different girls so that individuals can worth their efforts, and a greater pay goes a great distance in that sense,” she says, echoing a standard theme in girls’s boxing these days. “I believe girls are being underappreciated within the work we’re doing, and what we receives a commission is ridiculous in comparison with what different males receives a commission.”

Because the oldest of 5 siblings in a family affected by medicine and poverty, and later as a single mother with a lofty objective in her profession, Juarez needed to cope with a ton of non-boxing conditions that made her accomplishments much more admirable. However quitting was by no means an choice, even within the darkest of instances.

“Outdoors the ring, my most tough state of affairs was having to combat whereas my mother was on the hospital with most cancers. She was very sick, and we knew it was solely a matter of days for her, and it was very tough to coach and get within the ring as a substitute of spending time with my mother,” stated Juarez, who’s now very energetic on social media and beginning a profession as a journalist/ interviewer/ talk-show host for her quite a few on-line followers, as she continues in her trailblazing boxing profession in direction of objectives that she will be able to now determine extra clearly than in her earlier days.

“My plan is to grow to be champion within the junior featherweight division, so I’m working very arduous for that,” stated Juarez. “However earlier than that I wish to have a rematch with Yulihan Luna, in order that I can regain my title after which transfer on to the junior featherweight division,” she concludes, in reference to her October 31, 2020 loss to the fighter that she would later accuse of loading her gloves in that combat (the WBC discovered no proof of tampering, and Juarez later recanted her accusation).

The long run legend graciously took time to make a listing for The Ring with one of the best she confronted in a number of key classes:

BEST JAB 
Alesia Graf

BEST DEFENSE
Ava Knight

BEST HANDSPEED 
Shindo Go

BEST FOOTWORK 
Asami Shikasho

SMARTEST
Ava Knight was a really clever fighter, very cellular with a mode just like mine however extra aggressive.

STRONGEST
Ryo Togo, since she stopped me within the first spherical and he or she was one of many strongest I confronted within the ring

BEST PUNCHER
Ryo Togo

BEST CHIN 
Ryo Togo

BEST BOXING SKILLS
Simona Galassi was a fighter that I knew could be a problem within the ring. We had a flyweight title combat, and he or she was unbeaten as an newbie and as a professional, and he or she was additionally a southpaw with lots of approach and mobility. I knew she was very clever within the ring however we labored very arduous within the ring and received the win.

Most wins for a feminine boxer – all time (energetic ones in purple)

Mariana Juarez (55-10-4), Regina Halmich (54-1-1), Zulina Munoz (53-3-2), (Marcela Acuña 49-7-2), Christy Martin (49-7-3), Mia St. John (49-14-2), Delfine Persoon (44-3), Layla McCarter (44-13-5), Jelena Mrdjenovich (41-11-2), Kelsey Jeffries (41-11-3), Amanda Serrano (40-1-1), Yazmin Rivas (40-10-1).

Juarez vs Soto (fifty fifth victory): VIDEO

Juarez vs Togo I: VIDEO

Juarez documentary (Spanish): VIDEO