Doctor’s advice motivates Zavala to Silver Gloves success

Los Lunas

The audio and visual image didn’t seem to match. The loud popping sound generated by boxing gloves smashing into a heavy bag appeared contradictory to who was actually unleashing the punches.

Thirteen-year-old AnaBelle Zavala, barely 120 pounds, was working out at T-N-T Boxing Club and Youth Mentoring Center in Los Lunas.

The recent training session came shortly after Zavala won the Silver Gloves of America regional title in Compton, Calif. Next stop later this month is the national Silver Gloves competition, where Zavala will fight for the title at 125 pounds.

“I’m nervous and excited at the same time,” Zavala said about the national tournament in Independence, Mo.

What kind of skills brought Zavala to this point?

“My punches are really good. I have hard, fast punches,” Zavala pointed out, while admitting, “My footwork needs a little work. I’m too flat-footed.”

David Adame is a coach at the club, as well as president of the Youth Mentoring Center, a non-profit.

“She just will not quit. She has this drive in her,” Adame said when explaining Zavala’s ring success. “She listens to her coaches. She trusts her coaches…she’s strong, she’s confident, which makes her even bigger in people’s eyes.”

The boxing journey began for Zavala about three years ago when she heard a startling statement from her doctor.

“If you don’t lose weight, you’re going to die,” Zavala recalled what she was told by her physician. “I’m dying at a young age? Wow — I was fat. A big, fat girl.”

That was all the motivation Zavala needed.

“I came here, started working out, doing stuff,” helping her to realize, “I was going to be successful in life.”

Her seventh-grade classmates at Valencia Middle School are aware of her boxing success, some saying, “That’s cool. I want to be like you.”

Zavala also wants to be successful outside boxing circles.

“My favorite class is math,” Zavala says about the challenge it brings. “Math is like the hardest thing to learn about.”

Even at a young age, Zavala implies that she doesn’t want boxing to define her.

“I’m a really great person. I’m sweet, I’m kind,” Zavala replied when asked what people should know about her.

“She’s got the biggest heart,” Adame adds.

Until the bell rings to start the Silver Gloves National Tournament Tuesday, Feb. 24, Zavala will be training and fundraising for the trip.

Zavala counter-punched a bit when asked if being a professional boxer some day was a goal.

“I like being in boxing,” she responded, but in the short-term, she aims “to be good, great and just be better.”