(NOV 13) Kaliesha West headed out to Duarte, California for a team mates sparring session in the home gym of newly crowned GBU Jr. Lightweight Champion Rhonda Luna. What she found there was both inspirational and moving. The gym was full of young women!

Seeing women in the Duarte Boxing Club is not new. However, the fact that they outnumbered the men is. Head Coach Victor Valenzuela said “Mark my word; this is only half of the girls who have recently signed up!”

It appears that Rhonda’s quest and acquisition of the GBU Title has motivated and inspired the young women in her community to reach out and catch a dream.

Alicia Rivera, who has trained at Duarte Boxing Club for some time now said, "At school, when word went around that Rhonda became the GBU WORLD champion, I noticed a lot more girls sign up at our gym."

Stephani Rizo said "Rhonda is not only a counselor to us all but she is a boxer. She inspired me as a counselor and now as a boxer!"

Kaliesha West feels a change coming on. “This was such an amazing transformation to witness. There were times when I was the only girl in the gym throughout my amateur career. It was a very lonely feeling. When another girl showed up in the gym and we were side by side pounding the heavy bag, I loved it! Then it seemed in a short period of time…it would just be me, alone again.

When I saw all these girls in the gym I felt overwhelmed.

When the girls realized that I was a Champion as well, they asked me many questions about sparring and my career. I could see their desire to absorb as much information as they could. I could see the passion in their eyes. My dad gave them an autographed picture of me for the gym, and I could see that same look on their faces that I had when I first started. As they looked it over it was as if they were saying…I can be a World Champion too!”

It appears the girls enjoyed their time with the visiting WBO World Bantamweight Champion, Kaliesha West. And now, they have their very own World Champion, Rhonda Luna, in their home gym! So….for this group of aspiring young boxing enthusiasts, it seems all is right in the world of pugilistic endeavors.

WBAN has New Group Facebook  WBAN has just listed a new Group Facebook "Women Boxing Archive Network" exclusively for women's boxing.  We would like to have the Group Facebook for women's boxing worldwide for links to stories, for WBAN readers, and more.   To join WBAN's Facebook