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I gave up on boxing, not on this boxer
Kurt Streeter, New York Times
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I flinched when Seniesa Estrada took a shot. When she twisted to
evade a jab, I found myself twisting, too. When she plowed a left hook into the
jaw of her Argentine challenger, Leonela Yúdica, I hoped such aggression would
lead to a knockout.اضافة اعلان
As Estrada defended her World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council mini flyweight titles Friday in front of nearly 2,500 fans at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, I watched her fight from the stands for the first time in 18 years.
In the early 2000s, when I was a city reporter for the Los Angeles Times, I had been impressed by the long list of champions from East LA. Oscar De La Hoya was the greatest of them, and I searched for the next teenage boy who could follow his path out of the tough, impoverished, predominantly Latino neighborhood.
Seniesa Estrada tests the boxing gloves she will use for her fight in Las Vegas on July 27, 2023. Nods to Estrada’s nickname, Superbad, were emblazoned on her gloves and pre-fight attire.
Instead, I found Estrada and spent the next three years chronicling her quest to prove herself in the rugged, male-dominated world of junior boxing. The result was “The Girl” — a five-part, front-page series that drew widespread attention.
Estrada’s story was about more than boxing. It was a glimpse into what it was like to be young and Latina, growing up amid the beauty and trouble of East LA. It was also a powerful father-daughter tale. Estrada was guided in life and boxing by her dad, Joe, who was trying to put his troubles with drugs, crime and gangs behind him. By shepherding her, Joe could show he was capable of doing good. By fighting, Seniesa helped him stay straight.
The Estradas shared a dream that seemed impossible in an era when female fighters existed on the far margins of the sport. The series was published seven years before women’s boxing was introduced at the London Olympics in 2012 and well before Ronda Rousey became a sensation in mixed martial arts, opening our eyes to the star power of female fighters.
Despite the odds, Estrada and her father vowed she would one day be a world champion and headline marquee fights in boxing hot spots like Las Vegas.
She is 31 now, a sinewy 5 feet 2 inches, and still full of the sharp wit and self-assurance she has always possessed. Remarkably, perhaps miraculously, nearly everything she and her father imagined has come true.
With the money she has earned in boxing, Estrada has been able to buy a condominium in downtown Los Angeles, a comfortable home in a suburb and new cars for both of her parents. Her bouts are now bringing in paydays in the middle six figures. For the Yúdica fight, Estrada headlined a card that included eight matches between men.
Entering last week’s bout, Estrada, known in boxing circles by the name Superbad, had fought 24 times since turning professional in 2011. She had won each time, nine by knockout.
Seniesa Estrada listens to her coach as her cut man tends to her eye during a break in rounds fighting Leonela Yudica in Las Vegas on July 28, 2023. Estrada started out strong but Yúdica never backed down, avoiding a dreaded knockout.
“I just always knew it would happen like this,” she said, reflecting on her journey. “I would always think about it, dream about it, talk about it. And now all those things I wanted are happening.”
Estrada’s career has had its twists. An injured foot kept her out of the 2012 Olympics. Around that time, she quit boxing for a year or so, took community college classes and worked a string of low-paying jobs, including as a server at an ice cream shop.
Then boxing drew her back. Her drive to take the women’s fight game to new heights, opening doors for future generations of women and girls, was a mission worth sticking with. Three more years, she told me last week, and she’ll be ready to retire.
Still, she noted boxing’s grinding toll. The ugly business side that few see. The years she spent unable to get fights, training intensely but with no real competition.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” she said, adding: “Right now I’m just getting to the peak of my career, finally making good money with a great promoter. I’m still eager to learn and get better and be great. I’m still passionate about it, the most passionate I’ve ever been. But if somebody were to ask, ‘Do you love it?’ No, I don’t love it. Not like I used to.”
I understand the feeling.
Read more Odd and Bizarre
Jordan News
As Estrada defended her World Boxing Association and World Boxing Council mini flyweight titles Friday in front of nearly 2,500 fans at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, I watched her fight from the stands for the first time in 18 years.
In the early 2000s, when I was a city reporter for the Los Angeles Times, I had been impressed by the long list of champions from East LA. Oscar De La Hoya was the greatest of them, and I searched for the next teenage boy who could follow his path out of the tough, impoverished, predominantly Latino neighborhood.
Seniesa Estrada tests the boxing gloves she will use for her fight in Las Vegas on July 27, 2023. Nods to Estrada’s nickname, Superbad, were emblazoned on her gloves and pre-fight attire.
Instead, I found Estrada and spent the next three years chronicling her quest to prove herself in the rugged, male-dominated world of junior boxing. The result was “The Girl” — a five-part, front-page series that drew widespread attention.
Estrada’s story was about more than boxing. It was a glimpse into what it was like to be young and Latina, growing up amid the beauty and trouble of East LA. It was also a powerful father-daughter tale. Estrada was guided in life and boxing by her dad, Joe, who was trying to put his troubles with drugs, crime and gangs behind him. By shepherding her, Joe could show he was capable of doing good. By fighting, Seniesa helped him stay straight.
The Estradas shared a dream that seemed impossible in an era when female fighters existed on the far margins of the sport. The series was published seven years before women’s boxing was introduced at the London Olympics in 2012 and well before Ronda Rousey became a sensation in mixed martial arts, opening our eyes to the star power of female fighters.
Despite the odds, Estrada and her father vowed she would one day be a world champion and headline marquee fights in boxing hot spots like Las Vegas.
She is 31 now, a sinewy 5 feet 2 inches, and still full of the sharp wit and self-assurance she has always possessed. Remarkably, perhaps miraculously, nearly everything she and her father imagined has come true.
With the money she has earned in boxing, Estrada has been able to buy a condominium in downtown Los Angeles, a comfortable home in a suburb and new cars for both of her parents. Her bouts are now bringing in paydays in the middle six figures. For the Yúdica fight, Estrada headlined a card that included eight matches between men.
Entering last week’s bout, Estrada, known in boxing circles by the name Superbad, had fought 24 times since turning professional in 2011. She had won each time, nine by knockout.
Seniesa Estrada listens to her coach as her cut man tends to her eye during a break in rounds fighting Leonela Yudica in Las Vegas on July 28, 2023. Estrada started out strong but Yúdica never backed down, avoiding a dreaded knockout.
“I just always knew it would happen like this,” she said, reflecting on her journey. “I would always think about it, dream about it, talk about it. And now all those things I wanted are happening.”
Estrada’s career has had its twists. An injured foot kept her out of the 2012 Olympics. Around that time, she quit boxing for a year or so, took community college classes and worked a string of low-paying jobs, including as a server at an ice cream shop.
Then boxing drew her back. Her drive to take the women’s fight game to new heights, opening doors for future generations of women and girls, was a mission worth sticking with. Three more years, she told me last week, and she’ll be ready to retire.
Still, she noted boxing’s grinding toll. The ugly business side that few see. The years she spent unable to get fights, training intensely but with no real competition.
“It’s been a roller coaster,” she said, adding: “Right now I’m just getting to the peak of my career, finally making good money with a great promoter. I’m still eager to learn and get better and be great. I’m still passionate about it, the most passionate I’ve ever been. But if somebody were to ask, ‘Do you love it?’ No, I don’t love it. Not like I used to.”
I understand the feeling.
Read more Odd and Bizarre
Jordan News
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