ESPARZA: THE COVER GIRL EXTRAORDINAIRE AND BOXER SUPREME
By: Craig Johns
There’s nothing unusual about a girl applying a bit of make-up before she goes out, right?
A bit of blusher, some mascara and some nice perfume … no nothing unusual there.
Well in the case of Marlen Esparza, actually it is a little unusual.
That’s because when Esparza is applying her make-up to go out, she’s going out to the boxing ring!
Marlen Esparza, 23, flyweight, yesterday made history in London by becoming the first American female boxer to win an Olympic boxing bout. However, it is her pre-match ritual that has caught all the headlines.
Despite the fact that she gets hit in the face for a living, Esparza likes to make sure her face looks good beforehand. This ritual landed her a role as a model for Cover Girl, an American cosmetics brand.
On top of this she has also appeared in a Spanish language commercial for Coca-Cola and on a commercial for McDonald’s. She also has sponsorship deals with both Coca-Cola and Nike and she is the only female amateur boxer in the US known to hire a publicist. As a result, in America she has become one of the most well-known athletes competing in the Olympic Games.
Her face and looks might be seen as quite important to her then, so thankfully for Esparza, it is usually the case that she tends to do more of the punching rather than being punched.
A six-time national champion, the 51kg boxer has lost only twice in her incredible amateur career and one of those defeats was when she was just 12. The second defeat, in 2011, was to be avenged a year later; helping her towards qualification for the London 2012 Olympics where women’s boxing is making its inaugural bow.
Now, the sometimes outspoken female is guaranteed to medal after winning her quarter-final bout against Karlha Magliocco of Venezuela, 24-16.
In a dominant display, Esparza used her height and reach advantage to good use. Keeping her opponent at a distance and finding a good range for her solid jab, she was able to take her opponent apart and only grew stronger as the fight progressed.
She will be back in the ring on Wednesday where she will face her toughest ask yet, against China’s number one seeded favourite Cancan Ren. Victory would put her in a gold medal fight the following day (Thursday 9th), where she could meet the only Great British female boxer left in the competition Nicola Adams.
Whatever happens the 23 year-old has plenty to be proud of and is guaranteed to have a medal to show it.
However, Esparza is a born winner and that was showcased by the events after her 2011 loss, in a fight that was never supposed to happen. After becoming the national flyweight champion again in 2010, under new USA boxing rules, that meant Esparza automatically then qualified for the 2011 Pan American games.
However, a group of other boxers contested the selection procedures and as a result, a box-off between Christina Cruz (New York) and Esparza was scheduled for March 2011 in Colorado Springs.
Esparza lost the fight, her first defeat in 9 years, and took it so bad a doctor prescribed her anti-depressants. Of course, being the stubborn fighter she is she declined the prescription and instead doubled her training load. This helped her a year later when the two met again at the Olympic trials with Esparza this time coming out on top.
Now, with yesterday’s win, she is just two victories away from being crowned an Olympic gold medalist. If she does, then she will become the first ever female gold medallist because the flyweight final is the first woman’s final to take place.
Sadly though, Esparza revealed in an interview with The Atlantic magazine in June that she plans to quit boxing after the Olympics to pursue a career as an anaesthesiologist because she isn’t interested in turning professional, describing the paid ranks as ‘a lesser, sloppier version of the amateurs and, given the costs of trainers, agents, and promoters, not especially lucrative.’ I did say earlier she was often outspoken!
So make sure to catch Marlen Esparza on Wednesday and hopefully again Thursday because it is likely to be the last time we see the class of hers in a boxing ring.
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