Closing in on an Olympic dream

“I remember how bad I wanted it,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez, seeded fourth in the 10-fighter bracket, beat Stephanie Chavez of Orange in the quarterfinals and knocked off Las Vegas’ Yadira Bustillos in the semifinals, who had beaten top-seeded Maryguenn Vellinga of Utah. In the championship match, she faced off against Hawaii’s Jazzelle Bobadilla, who was the national champion at 106.

According to her coach, Tony Renteria, Gonzalez dominated.

The short story for the 20-year old Gonzalez, a 2017 graduate of Homestead High School in Sunnyvale, is that she went 3-0 in capturing the title. The long version, however, is much more interesting.

Like the fact 112 is not her natural weight. She normally fights at the 119-pound weight class, but that weight is not supported at the Olympics. So Gonzalez had to decide whether she wanted to move up a weight to 125 or down to 112.

“At the beginning of the year, we had to make a decision to go 125 or 112?” Gonzalez said.

She said she walks around at about 123 pounds when not in training for a fight, but believed she would have more power moving down a weight class.

The next big event in her boxing life occurred only a couple of months ago, when her original trainer, who led her to Gladiators Boxing Gym to begin with, dropped her.

Luckily for Gonzalez, Renteria was there to catch her fall.

Renteria, owner and trainer for Gladiators Boxing Gym, had always been sort of an assistant coach for Gonzalez and when her previous trainer left, Renteria picked up the baton and helped Gonzalez reach her goal.

“She has the heart, the will to continue,” Renteria said. “Not everybody likes to get punched. It takes a special person to do that.”

Gonzalez’s dad, Leo, credits Renteria for making his gym so welcoming and for helping his daughter achieve her dreams.

“For me, Tony has been (Mariana’s) coach from the start, He advises all the time,” Leo Gonzalez said. “We’re happy to be part of Gladiators.”

Gonzalez’s parents enrolled her in karate when she was 5 years old because, as Mariana said, “They wanted me to learn to defend myself.” She moved on to judo and then began training in Muy Thai and kickboxing.

But she soon realized she had an easier time having to worry about just throwing hands instead of dealing with kicks, knees and elbows.

But she showed her proclivity for winning fights.

“My last Muy Thai fight I won (a tournament championship),” Gonzalez said.

By that time, however, she already started her training as a boxer. And while she was athletically active in other sports in middle school, she decided before entering high school that wanted to dedicate her training to making an Olympic team and gave up her other activities.

“As much as I enjoyed those other sports, some sacrifices had to be made,”

Gonzalez said.

Those sacrifices continued during her high school year as even by her own account, she didn’t have much of a social life.

“But I’m not complaining about missing anything (in high school),” Gonzalez said.

But those sacrifices have paid off. She started fighting on bigger cards locally, like Friday Night Fights at the Hilltop at University of San Francisco and the Beautiful Brawlers cards set up by Pacifica’s Bianca Gutierrez, co-owner and trainer at Babyface Boxing.

Now, with approximately 40 amateur fights under her belt, Gonzalez is one big step away from a goal she set more than seven years ago.

But there is still work to be done before the trials. In addition to a tournament coming up next month, Gonzalez said she has to get used to her new weight. She wants to maintain the lighter weight without losing any power on her punches.

But all the work and sacrifice are paying off.

“I’ve worked really hard, along with my family,” Gonzalez said. “They’ve always been 100 percent there all the time. It wouldn’t have been possible without my parents.”