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Just as Lupe Gutierrez was completing her final round of sparring on Aug. 21 at Sac Fitness gym in Sacramento, Claressa Shields\u2014who Gutierrez hopes to one day follow in her footsteps\u2014was making history more than 6,000 miles away in Rio de Janeiro.<\/p>\n
Shields, competing in her second consecutive Olympic games as a middleweight, won gold in women\u2019s boxing. At just 21, Shields became the only U.S. boxer ever to win two gold medals (her first coming four years ago in London).<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to go to the Olympics in 2020,\u201d said the 17-year-old Gutierrez, who in July boxed her way to a Junior Olympics gold medal in Dallas, Texas. \u201cMy goal is to do what Claressa Shields has done. When she goes in there, she\u2019s like a beast. She just goes in there and dominates, and that\u2019s what I want to do to: To get girls known more in boxing, because we\u2019re really not that known. It\u2019s time for the girls to step up.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Sacramento native Gutierrez has been stepping up since she was 10 years old, and she\u2019ll step in the ring once again on Sept. 4 when she fights at \u201cBeautiful Brawlers VI\u201d\u2014an all-female amateur boxing show hosted annually by Pacifica-based boxing gym owner Blanca Gutierrez.<\/p>\n
At this year\u2019s event in Pacifica\u2014which since its inception was meant to provide a platform to young, up-and-coming female fighters\u2014Lupe Gutierrez is scheduled to be one of the main headliners.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m thankful that Blanca is doing this for me,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cBecause I know it\u2019s hard for girls. For me, I have to be an example for the little kids coming up, that want to look up to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The daughter of a Mexican-Cuban father and Filipina mother, Gutierrez first laced on gloves just prior to her 11th birthday. It was at her Filipino family gatherings when the young Gutierrez first glimpsed Manny Pacquiao.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was little, watching him looked interesting,\u201d Gutierrez said. \u201cAnd I wanted to get in [the ring] and do it too. So I tried it.\u201d<\/p>\n Having won more than 40 fights while only suffering five defeats, the smooth-boxing Gutierrez has risen to become one of the nation\u2019s best amateur boxers. The highlight of her career came at the 2015 AIBA Women\u2019s Junior World Boxing Championships in Taipei, when she defeated Donjeta Sadiku of Kosovo to become a world champion at 132 pounds.<\/p>\n \u201cJust standing on that podium was like \u2018Dang. What if in the Olympics, I can just stand up here again too?\u2019\u201d Gutierrez said of her world championship win in Taipei. \u201cIt was a great feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n But there have been others who have paved the way for Gutierrez and fighters like her.<\/p>\n \u201cHistorically, women haven\u2019t been boxers, and you haven\u2019t seen them start at a young enough age for them to develop those skills by 17,\u201d said Melissa McMorrow, an Oakland-based professional boxer and current flyweight World Champion. \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a miracle. It\u2019s rare because boxing hasn\u2019t really come up as a sport for women.\u201d<\/p>\n McMorrow, who has sparred with Gutierrez at least 20 times, is helping Gutierrez prepare for her Beautiful Brawlers bout, and McMorrow is impressed.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat really distinguishes a seasoned fighter from an entry level fighter is the understanding of distance and timing and what that does for you in a fight,\u201d McMorrow said. \u201cLupe can already control her body, so she can really maintain a certain distance and pick the times she wants to attack.\u201d<\/p>\n McMorrow, now 35, turned professional at the advanced age of 27. But opportunities in the United States were scarce for female fighters. McMorrow persevered, however, becoming a World Champion in 2012 after she upset the undefeated and favored Susi Kentikian in Germany. But McMorrow still wished she had the opportunities that young female fighters have today.<\/p>\n \u201cI do wish that I could\u2019ve been able to go to the Olympics. When I first started boxing, it was always my hope because there had been talk about boxing being in the Olympics much before 2012. Like 10-15 years before that,\u201d McMorrow said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to see that some people do get that opportunity now. Because it\u2019s something that I wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n Gutierrez too hopes to turn professional one day, but on one condition.<\/p>\n \u201cIf I win the Olympics,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause they give you more endorsements and you make more money that way. I\u2019m trying to make a living out of this.\u201d<\/p>\n Balancing the social life of a teenager and an elite fighter can be challenging, yet it\u2019s something that Gutierrez has learned to do.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes you have to make decisions,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat\u2019s more important, going out with your friends or going to train? I\u2019m glad some days I choose to go and train rather than be with my friends. Because I probably wouldn\u2019t be a world champion right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Beautiful Brawlers VI\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Sunday, Sept. 4 \u2022\u00a02 p.m.\u00a0\u2022\u00a0$20 general admission \u2022\u00a0640 Crespi Drive, Pacifica CA\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [su_slider source=”media: 31349,31347,31346,31348,31350″ limit=”40″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_slider source=”media: 29856,29857″ limit=”30″ link=”image” target=”blank” width=”700″ height=”460″ autoplay=”0″ speed=”500″][su_menu][\/su_slider] Just as Lupe Gutierrez was completing her final round of sparring on Aug. 21 at Sac Fitness gym in Sacramento, Claressa Shields\u2014who Gutierrez hopes to one day follow in her footsteps\u2014was making history more than 6,000 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":31348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[269],"tags":[11275,11269,11267,11277,11273,11271],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-31345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports-en","tag-beautiful-brawlers-en","tag-claressa-shields","tag-lupe-gutierrez","tag-melissa-mcmorrow-en","tag-olympic-boxing","tag-womens-boxing","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n