A hurricane is coming, and contrary to what people may fear, this one brings positive change to a sport long dominated by men. The hurricane comes in the form of a young female boxer named Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton.
In her three-year boxing career, Julaton has become the 2006 S.F. Golden Gloves champion, California State champion, Diamond Belt champion, 2007 S.F. Championships gold medalist and U.S. Championships silver medalist. She is currently ranked second in the country in her featherweight class as an amateur female boxer.
On Saturday, the 27-year-old Filipino American and Alameda native will make her professional boxing debut in Mandalay Bay Las Vegas in a preliminary match before the Manny Pacquiao vs. Marco Antonio Barrera main event.
Julaton has a background in tae kwon do, and one of her instructors at Alameda’s West Wind Schools of Martial Arts, Angelo Reyes, encouraged her to try boxing. She’s not a classic fighter, but there’s a mesmerizing quality and personality to the way she fights, said Reyes, now Julaton’s manager.
Reyes coined the moniker, “The Hurricane”, for those who had trouble pronouncing Julaton’s last name (the first syllable is pronounced the same).
“Over time, it became an actual fit to who I am as a boxer since people have observed that during my training and in my fights, I throw a lot of quick punches,” Julaton said.
Despite the marks made by women’s boxing legends through the years like Cathy “Cat” Davis, sisters Dora and Cora Webber, as well as Laila Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali, many gender-related obstacles remain for women boxers.
“The Hurricane” weathered her share of storms, both familial and professional. Her Filipino parents initially had doubts about her stepping into the ring. “It wasn’t their number one choice for me as a career,” Julaton said. “They didn’t want me to be a boxer because I’m a woman and felt that I should go to school instead. They changed their minds after seeing her fight. Now, she said, they cheer me on and say, ‘No mercy!’ or ‘Go get them!’, stuff that I wouldn’t imagine hearing from them.”
But her biggest challenge is being a woman in a sport long dominated by men.
Julaton recalled that when she first began boxing, trainers and coaches assumed that because she was a woman, she didn’t know anything about boxing or that I would just hurt myself if I entered the ring. But this actually inspired me to become really good so I could show them I have what it takes to be a boxer.
It is hard enough to be a woman in a contact sport like boxing, but being a woman and a Filipino American had Julaton working extra hard to prove her worth. Yet she credits the Filipino male boxers who have gained respect in the United States boxing arena for her own advancement.
“They paved the way for others like me to thrive in this sport,” Julaton said. “So this isn’t about women vs. men. It’s actually about giving women the opportunity to excel in boxing.”
At the Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, Julaton shares training rings with the likes of Filipino fighters Gerry “Fearless” Penalosa, AJ “Bazooka” Banal, Diosdado “Prince” Gabi, Z “The Dream” Gorrez and Bert “Ninja” Batawang, not to mention her boxing idol, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao.
“When you see boxers like Kuya Manny and the others who are always here working out day in and day out, you are bound to strive to be the best as well,” she said.
In preparation for her professional debut, Julaton has been working with world champion trainer Freddie Roach, who has described her as “a fighter with a fast jab, great right, excellent left hook with lots of power and solid fundamentals.”
Julaton said she appreciates Roach’s tough-love approach to training. “If he feels that you are not pushing yourself to reach your potential, he will not hesitate to shout at you,” Julaton said. “That’s what I like about working with him. He’s not holding back because of my gender and treats me like any other boxer in the gym.”
Being a world champion is Julaton’s goal for the next few years, but she also hopes to bring positive attention to female boxing as a competitive sport, in the wake of the International Olympics Committee¹s decision to exclude women’s boxing from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“The IOC’s decision is really disappointing,” Julaton said. “A lot has changed over the years for female boxing. There is a lot more discipline, a lot more skills and techniques developed. If you go to national tournaments, you will see how competitive the sport has become, especially in amateur rankings.”
Julaton has advocated for greater recognition of women¹s boxing since the early days of her career.
“It’s empowering for women to do boxing,” she said in a television interview last year. “But there is also the need to prove that it’s not always a set-up fight or a novelty act. There is a need to change mindsets and attitudes so that female boxing can be accepted as a genuine competitive sport.”
Advocates of women’s boxing have tried to gain legitimacy for the sport for the past few decades, and Julaton said things have been changing, albeit slowly.
“In the boxing world, female boxers are actually given a lot of support,” Julaton said. “The sports channels, the promoters, the fans have been giving exposure to female fighters, and that’s good news. But in mainstream media, there is not much coverage on female boxers.”
Paul Mayorquin, Roach’s assistant at Wild Card Gym, has high hopes for the fighter. “She’ll be a world champion someday,” Mayorquin said. “She just has to keep her head straight and train hard.”
However, she knows this will be no easy task: there will be hard losses, bruises on the face, no social life and no Filipino food for a while. But she’s willing to make the sacrifice.
“People have said that boxing is not for me,” Julaton said. “They said that I shouldn’t be here. But this is my true calling, and I will move forward with it to the best of my abilities.”
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Manny “PacMan” Pacquiao
Among the most popular and successful of Filipino professional boxers is 28-year-old Manny “PacMan The Destroyer” Pacquiao. Pacquiao is the reigning World Boxing Council International Super Featherweight champion, and from 2001 to 2004 he was the International Boxing Federation Super Bantamweight world champion. He was the World Boxing Council Flyweight champion from 1998 to 1999.
Born in Kibawe, Bukidnon, in Mindanao, Philippines, the 5-foot 6.5-inch super featherweight began fighting at age 16. He has won 44 of his 49 fights, winning 35 of those by knockouts.
He was the subject of a 2006 film, Pacquiao: The Movie, and had a hit single, “Para Sa’Yo Ang Laban Na’To” (’This Fight is for You’) in 2006. Pacquiao, who now lives in General Santos City in the Philippines, ran for a congressional seat last spring, but was defeated.
During her 2006 State of the Nation address, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo called Pacquiao one of the nation’s modern-day heroes.
“Mabuhay ka, Manny,” she said.