TULSA, Okla — Catalina Cordova is just 13 years old and has earned several titles, ranging from the Junior Olympics to the Golden Gloves Championship.
“I worked really hard to get these," she said.
She hopes to be an inspiration to other girls trying to get into the sport.
“It's not that easy to be a girl in boxing, because a bunch of boys, like, when you're sparring, think they're better than you because you're a girl," she said. "They'll be mean to you," she said.
Still, she said she just rolls with the punches to show her talent in the ring, and it seems like that attitude is intimidating.
"I was gonna go to Nationals, and then that didn't really work, because the girl I was supposed to fight didn't want to fight me," she said.
So now, she's training for Regionals in Little Rock, Arkansas.
The community has stood behind her.
Hector Rivas owns the King Street Boxing gym and has been training with Catalina for the past few months.
He said her Boxing IQ and her punching power is exceptional.
Rivas started a GoFund Me that was initially going to go towards her Nationals competition, but will now be going towards her Regionals trip.
Her father Thomas said he's proud of everything she's accomplished and can't wait to see her grow even more.
“Some of the best memories I'm always going to have with me and my daughter is the time we've had in the gym and boxing," he said. "It's brought us super close.”
Thomas said he originally wanted his daughter to have a way to defend herself, but then he saw she had a gift.
“I started training them myself, because I grew up boxing as well, and from the young age, I noticed that Catalina was not afraid," said Cordova. "She would go in and she could take a hit. She wouldn't run from them.”
According to Catalina, boxing has helped her build up confidence and strength, skills she can now use outside the ring.
Her father agrees that she's also grown not just as a boxer, but as a person.
“I hope she takes the discipline she's learned not to quit," he said. "To apply that to anything she does in life, whatever career she chooses, if it's not boxing.”
For now, Catalina's got her eyes on Regionals, and said she's training hard to go pro and become the world champ.
For those wanting to help Catalina with expenses at Regionals, they can donate to her GoFundMe here.
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