Bogarin Knocks It Out of the Ring

COLTON >> Roxanne Bogarin started training for boxing when she was 5 years old. Now she is 17, a recent graduate of Arroyo Valley High School in San Bernardino and winner at the 5th Annual Southern California State Amateur Boxing Championships. It was her recent defeat of 19-year-old Dailya Cueva of Apple Valley May 15 at Notre Dame High School in Riverside that sent her to Menifee June 10 through 12 for the championships. As she was one of only two girls in her weight category, she only had to fight once. Her bout against Nadia Morales of Arlanza, made up of three 2-minute rounds, put her 2-1 coming out ahead. “I was just hoping for the best,” Bogarin said. “I know for myself that I wanted to win so badly, but I never know what’s going to happen.” While Bogarin has been training most of her life with her former professional boxing father, Alejandro, she started fighting in tournaments just last year and began officially training with Coach Steve Aguilar of Colton Boxing Club. She said when she was younger, her parents did not want her to have to go through being one of the only girls in boxing. “As I grew up in high school,” she said, “I wanted to continue boxing and actually do shows. I think my parents accepted the fact that I’m ready and older.” Aguilar said Bogarin is at the gym five times a week for an hour-and-a-half a day, and that they do three rounds of everything that is available for them to use. He attributed her win to her hard work in the gym. “She works hard in the gym,” Aguilar said. “She tries her best to do what I tell her to do. She follows directions really well. You need coachability in order to do boxing. She has good coachability.” Bogarin said she wants to influence other kids to train just as hard. “I train hard because I want to influence other kids to train as hard as me, to influence them that if you work really hard, that you can accomplish and feel good,” she said. Aguilar added that when Bogarin won at the championships, she went over to congratulate her opponent. “She has a good personality,” Aguilar said. “She’s good at congratulating her opponent. The girl fought hard. She fought well, too.” Bogarin said she had a disqualification scare because of her hair before the tournament started. As a female boxer, her hair is supposed to be pulled back completely before fighting. “I was so glad that there was a little girl who was also fighting,” Bogarin said. “She helped me pull my hair up. I just wanted to thank her because without her, I could have been disqualified.” Bogarin said she is taking a break from boxing right now to focus on life. “Even though I love boxing so much and want to continue it, I think I need to take a break and focus on studies and work and growing up,” she said. In the fall, she will be attending Cal State San Bernardino and majoring in chemistry. Her goal is to become a forensic pathologist.