Samantha Guzman, CYBC very own, wins the State Silver Gloves!
From Oak Park Journal newspaper.
Oak Park pugilist packs a punch in the ring
From the Editor
Brad Spencer
"It was really cute," explains Angel Guzman of his daughter Samantha’s desire to participate in a new sport. "She turned to me in the car on the way home and said I’d like to start boxing."
Huh?
Fast-forward nine months. Samantha is just 16 years old, a sophomore at OPRF High School, and a Silver Gloves champ at junior flyweight (106 pounds). She’s undefeated with five wins, and talks boxing smack with former NBA player turned pugilist Kendall Gill at the gym. Her nickname in the ring is "Million Dollar Oak Park Baby." The former gymnast is now a fighter.
Samantha trains 3-4 times a week, and that’s a light week, when there’s no upcoming fight. When many teenage girls are shopping for lowrider jeans at the mall, Samantha is busy shadow boxing (12 minutes), smashing the bag (15 minutes), hitting the speed bag (9 minutes), jumping rope (9 minutes), and running on the treadmill (25 minutes). She also works on her abs. Go ahead and ask her, she’s proud to tell you.
Are you ripped?
"Yes I am."
Samantha doesn’t hold back many punches. She’ll be the first to tell you she’s not much of a team player.
"I’m a really competitive person, and I don’t do too well with team sports. Boxing is something I can work hard at and see the results from my own individual efforts."
Okay, okay, Samantha didn’t just step into boxing blindly. Her father is a former boxer. Back in the day, Angel, who is also the president of Chicago Youth Boxing, went 17-5 at bantamweight when he was a teenager, but he swears he’s never felt compelled to push any of his three kids into the sport.
"Wherever their interests lie, they should take a shot at it," he says. "And Samantha tagged along with me to a match or two and got interested. I told her she needed to be serious about it. I started her off just learning the basics, to see if she could compete without getting hurt. She hasn’t letup since."
There were about 100 people at Samantha’s first fight, but she wasn’t the one with the jumpy nerves. "You’re a little too antsy. I would prefer you wouldn’t work my corner," she told her dad before the fight. Samantha gave her opponent two standing eight counts during the three one-minute rounds. She won convincingly.
How proud was dear ole Dad that his youngest daughter was an official amateur boxer?
"He was honking the horn up and down the street," remembers Samantha. "It was a little embarrassing."
But what about Mom, who wept after seeing the movie "Million Dollar Baby"? Margie saw Samantha go toe-to-toe with a 32-year-old woman in her weight class and new her daughter was born to box.
"We’re going to support her and help her out as best we can with this," said Angel. "Someday she can look back on her days of boxing and be proud of what she accomplished."
That day of reflection is far off, for Samantha has more boxing aspirations. She’ll soon compete in the Junior Olympics, and hopefully next year the Golden Gloves. But most of all, Samantha would like to make the USA women’s boxing team some day. While the sport for women has yet to be recognized in the Olympics, the USA team competes internationally.
"The camaraderie and the skill level is amazing at that level," beams Samantha. "I would love to go over to Russia and Asia and fight."
Samantha’s friends think her boxing is cool. Even the boys get a kick out of it. "My guy friends and I talk about who I could beat up if I had to and who I couldn’t. It’s a little joke thing we do."
That’s cute.
Contact:bspencer@wjinc.com
