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(JUN 16) Fontana’s Heather Percival was born to fight. She is one of eight
children, situated right in the middle of the Percival family roster.
“I guess I was always mixing it up with my brothers and sisters,” said
Percival. Percival faces Valeria Flores (6-2) in a six-round match the
should prove
to be the best if the extremely good fight card at the Maywood Activity
Center on Saturday, June 18.
As a child she liked watching boxing on television too. She often asked her
parents to take her to a gym to learn how to fight. But they frowned and
ignored her requests.
“My dad laughed at me. I kept bugging my mom but she put me in gymnastics
and track. I kept bugging my mom so she started looking around all the
places where kickboxing was and I said I don’t want kickboxing, I want to
box,” Percival (6-1) said.
Finally Percival’s mother found a boxing gym right around the corner but it
was always closed. One day she found the doors open. “Heather came to
me when she was 16 and about 110 pounds. She was a squinkly little thing,”
said Larry Ramirez, owner and trainer at Fontana
Boxing Club on Sierra Avenue. “She kept working and working alone in the gym
and eventually I said I’ll start working with you.”
Percival was put into a few amateur bouts, but before she could get
accustomed to the ring, she quit. “With teens they hit that age and
they lose interest,” said Ramirez.
For several years Percival stayed away from the boxing gym. Then about a
year ago, she was back in the gym.
“When I came back I weighed about 145 pounds,” said Percival, 22, who still
resides in Fontana. “I had two jobs so when I was able to quit one, I
returned to boxing.”
Percival quickly picked up the needed techniques and was persuaded to turn
professional. “It’s not about the money,” said Percival who works at a
movie theater in Ontario. “I just like the competition. But it’s great that
I can get paid
doing it.” In one year the former Etiwanda High graduate has fought
seven times with only one defeat.
“She (her opponent) was a very good boxer, but she was a southpaw. I wasn’t
ready for her,” Percival said, whose family traveled 17 hours by car to the
state of Washington to see her fight.
Percival’s last fight was a victory over a highly touted Michigan fighter
named. Jennifer Salinas in March. The four-round fight saw Percival
out-maneuver and counter-punch the hard-charging Salinas. The Fontana
fighter won by unanimous decision.
“Salinas was a tough girl,” said Ramirez. “If Heather didn’t know how to
move laterally she would have ran into trouble.”
Now Percival faces another tough opponent in San Antonio’s Valeria Flores
who is ranked number eight in the world as a junior bantamweight. Percival
is ranked 16.
“Boxing is just one of those sports that if you work hard you will win,” she
said “I hope it’s a good fight.”.
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