She's a knockout

True boxing fans look at Yoli Peña and see her unusually large hands and powerful legs. Almost everyone else — including would-be opponents — just see a pretty face. Truth is, she has all three — and more.

just see a pretty face.

Truth is, she has all three — and more.

Boxer, model, promoter, full-time student — the intensely driven Peña has all the tools to succeed at whatever she sets her mind to, and just two years out of Edinburg North High School, that’s what she’s doing. (Watch this video to get a better idea of Yoli Peña's life)

“I know if I stick to something and I really want it I’ll get to whatever I want, so that’s what I’m doing right now,” Peña said.

“I chose boxing and I’m sticking to it and I’m going to do it.”

Birth of a fighter

A competitor by nature, Peña’s interest in contact sports began at age 7 with karate lessons while her family, originally from Monterrey, Mexico, lived in Arkansas. She went on to win several fights though she was still somewhat wary of her own strength.

“Actually, I never liked fighting,” she confessed. “I was scared to hit any girl. I have real big hands and real big knuckles, so I was scared I was going to hurt somebody. I remember punching a kid because he grabbed my skirt and he actually went to the floor, this was like in sixth or seventh grade, so otherwise I never liked fighting other girls or anything like that.”

Peña continued her martial arts training after moving to Edinburg in the sixth grade, eventually hooking up with Tae Kwan Do instructor Johnny Garcia, who’s now her boxing trainer. But during her high school years, Peña turned to more traditional sports.

The now 19-year-old University of Texas-Pan American sophomore played soccer, basketball, softball, volleyball and ran track and field. Her favorite sport was soccer, in which she developed the strong upper legs that help her generate power in the ring.

After graduating in 2006, Peña had offers to play Division II soccer, but her father wasn’t ready for her to leave home. And that, she says, is another reason she turned to boxing. A product of a traditional Mexican family, Peña’s father ruled the family with an iron fist and she still needed an outlet for her competitiveness and the stress of home life.

“The reason I started boxing was because my parents would fight a lot … and I ended up (moving out of her parents’ house last year) because I was scared I was going to end up hitting my dad,” Peña said. “I can only take so much.

“Ever since I remember it’s been like this. I’ve seen many things and I’ve gone through a lot and that’s one of the reasons I started boxing, because of stress.”

Model citizen

Boxing is her calling, Peña says, but right now it’s only one of them. She’s taking 18 hours this spring, plays club soccer with the Broncs and helps promote several McAllen area clubs like Mint and Yacht. But it’s her part-time modeling that raises the most eyebrows.

Peña is an attractive young woman, slightly built with long dark hair and delicate features, and that is what most guys notice first, her trainer says.

“A lot of people think, ‘Ah, well she’s just a pretty face,’ this and that, and we have a lot of guys come up and want to be her sponsor, but really they just want to come check her out, some eye candy, but she’s got good power,” Garcia said. “If you were to see her training and see her fights, she’s got some good power.”

Peña says she was first contacted about modeling after posting photos on her MySpace Web site to promote her boxing career. That led to local businesses asking for her services in advertisements. She’s since done several, making about $150 per 30-minute shoot, but it’s not something she sees herself doing long term.

“I don’t think I have all the qualities to be a model,” Peña said. “That’s just like a little hobby I have on the side. If I can keep doing it I’m going to do it, but I think boxing will take me a lot further.”

That’s why she’s not too concerned about her potentially brutal profession damaging her looks, though she does admit to worrying about her nose — which she’s already broken once — and perhaps having a few teeth knocked out.

“I’ll just go get it fixed and who cares about the modeling,” she joked.

Peña does, however, recognize what the exposure through modeling can do for her boxing career.

“It’s getting easier for me because of the whole modeling thing, and people see me and they’re like, ‘Oh,’ like I stand out,” she said. “I’m not trying to say I’m real big or anything like that, but I stand out a little bit. They say, ‘Hey she’s a girl boxer and she’s a promoter.’ I promote a couple of clubs, and that’s how it’s getting easier for me.”

Rising star

Local amateur boxer Isaac Torres, 16, sees Peña’s potential. The 2012 Olympic-hopeful is the second-ranked bantamweight amateur in the United States — and Peña’s part-time sparring partner at Imperial Gym in McAllen.

“She’s very strong,” Torres said. “She moves her opponent back. She uses upstairs, downstairs all the time, so she hits the head, when the hands come up she hits the body, the hands come down she starts hitting the head — she’s a very smart fighter.”

In more ways the one.

With just two fights under her belt, both TKOs, Peña already is the 26th-ranked super bantamweight in the world according to boxrec.com, this despite no amateur fights. By comparison, Torres already has more than 100. But she’s yet to hire a promoter or manager and already has turned down a bout with a more established fighter out of California who, Garcia says, wants an easy victory over a pretty girl.

“I want to bring her along slowly first, make sure she gets some experience because that girl has a lot of experience,” Garcia said. “Yoli has no amateur experience. But they look at her, ‘Oh, she’s a pretty face.’ That’s what they’re going by. ‘Oh it would be an easy win, she’s got two wins by knockout but maybe she fought nobodies,’ so they’re thinking it’s an easy win.

“But once they get in the ring with her they find out it’s totally different.”

In the meantime, Peña trains five days a week and promotes her own fights, which actually led to her losing money after her first bout, a TKO win over Casandra Soto of San Antonio at 1:12 of the first round on Sept. 8, 2007, at Edinburg Baseball Stadium. She was paid $800 for the fight, but spent more than that buying her suit, tickets for family and other expenses.

Peña next earned a third-round TKO victory over Blanca Cotto on Nov. 30, 2007, at the Jacob Brown Auditorium in Brownsville and currently is training to fight again sometime in March. And if opponents continue making the mistake of thinking she’s just a pretty face, they’re in for a surprise.

“Anyone can fight, pretty girl, ugly girl, look at Laila Ali,” Torres said. “She’s a very beautiful woman but she fights, and she’s a damn good fighter. That’s just like Yoli. She’s very pretty but she can fight too.”

Jason McDaniel is a sports reporter for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4442. For this and more local stories, visit www.themonitor.com.