Two Mexican athletes will look to win their country's first medal in women's boxing. It has been 25 years since Mexico legalized women's boxing and it's produced multiple champions, but today, the sport finds itself in a precarious position.

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The 2024 Summer Olympics are underway in Paris, with competition lasting until mid-August.

Paris Olympics

Mexican women target Olympic boxing history

Two Mexican athletes will look to win their country's first medal in women's boxing. It has been 25 years since Mexico legalized women's boxing, and though it has produced multiple champions, the sport currently faces significant challenges.

Mariana Torres, a 17-year-old aspiring professional boxer, comes from a family of Mexican boxing champions. She aims to turn professional with the support of her aunt and trainer, Ana Maria Torres, a Hall of Fame boxer known as The Warrior. Despite the talent, women's boxing in Mexico lacks the institutional support needed to ensure profitable careers for fighters.

Financial comparisons reveal that Mexican boxers can earn significantly more in the U.S., leading many promoters to focus on the U.S. market. This shift results in fewer local sponsorships and television opportunities in Mexico. Citlaly Ortiz and Fatima Herrera, two promising boxers, are preparing for the Olympics with the hope of securing Mexico's first women's boxing medal. They face financial challenges but are determined to succeed, viewing Olympic success as a means to greater opportunities.



Mexican women target Olympic boxing history

Boxing runs in Mariana Torres's blood. The 17-year-old comes from a family of Mexican boxing champions, women champions. She's hoping to turn professional in the coming months with the help of her aunt and trainer, Hall of Fame boxer Ana Maria Torres, known here as The Warrior. In the 25 years since women's boxing was legalized, it's been a constant battle between promoters, the public, sponsors, and even the families at home who didn't want to support their daughters, saying this was a man's sport. But the road for Mariana and other boxing hopefuls like her in Mexico can be quite bleak. Despite having many world champions as well as world-class talent, women's boxing lacks the institutional structure to propel fighters into profitable careers. As in so many other areas of life here, the allure of better opportunities up north has a strong pull. If you compare the money they can make in the U.S. with a promoter, with a boxing match, with what they can make here in Mexico, the numbers just don't add up. So what have Mexican promoters done? They go to the U.S. market, they sign their boxers with big companies in the U.S., and that changes how the business develops here. Without local promoters, there's no sponsors, no primetime television spots. But for many, the love of the sport is stronger still. For many boxers, the dream, of course, is to end up here, training to represent Mexico in the Olympics. And this month, two boxers will aim to make history, trying to become the first Mexican women to bring home an Olympic boxing medal. With only days to go before Paris 2024, Citlaly Ortiz and Fatima Herrera are hard at work. They're not exempt from the challenges faced by their professional counterparts, but they know Olympic success can help open doors. The biggest challenge is always the support, kind of financially. I had to get a job to invest in my career, so I feel like it's a general problem, like economically you're going to find better opportunities in the States. While more competitive salaries may end up changing the course of their careers, for now they have one focus, to give Mexico its first women's boxing medal. Julia Galeano, Al Jazeera, Mexico City.

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