Carmarie
"Karma" Matos, born in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. The sport of physical contact was always
her
passion. Her father was a boxer and the sport was in her blood.
At 9
years old, Carmarie told her father Carlos Matos the following: "Daddy, I want to
fight." Papi full of emotions took me to practice. I was
motivated for a while until daddy had to move to the USA---at
which point it was difficult for me to continue.
When Carmarie decided to get into the boxing, she said that both
her mother and grandmother did not like the idea, as it was a
strong sport for a girl. Carmarie said that she ignored
her feelings and so she began playing in basketball with the
Indias de Mayagüez.
Carmarie said, "One day, I would stay at my brother's house and I saw a
mixed martial arts (MMA) movie. I could feel the
adrenaline rushing up and through my mind it just happened---
this is what I want. I started kicking without
knowing and while doing so I thought about where I could
practice kickboxing."
"I taped my Tae
Kwon Do (TKD) master uncle and called my grandmother. The next day I
was already practicing. By then I was 11 years old. I continued
in the Indians of Mayagüez at the same time that I practiced TKD.
At the time, I started practicing Kick Boxing so I was
already in three TKD sports, Kick Boxing and Basketball, because
it was the sport that my family told me would give me
scholarships for University."
"In my neighborhood, I used
to put on gloves with my neighbors and with my cousins I would
fight. He started participating in TKD competitions, Kickboxing
and seeing one victory after another. So I decided to quit
basketball and focus on what I am really passionate about",
added Carmarie.
Carmarie said that she left TKD, and began boxing, so then she
was now boxing and participating in kickboxing. At about
that same time, she had had a kickboxing fight in which
she lost.
Carmarie said, "I went to two undercards
(boxing) and those first two fights I did were both defeats.
Many doors were closed to me. I lost too many
opportunities and one of the many reasons was because I'm a
woman, there is no help from the heart unless your available to
risk yourself without having evidence of being victorious. I
received words of encouragement from both my team and my family
and remained more focused than ever."
"I did kickboxing, MMA and
boxing fights coming out one after another with my hand raised
thanks to my team. It should be noted that to achieve this I had
to make many sacrifices and leave many other things. My
preparation was based on long hours of training for months,
strict diets, physical therapy for injuries sustained and
various physical exams."
"From then until now, thanks to the
sacrifice, many more doors have been opened to me than those
that were closed at the beginning."
Carmarie talked about her future goals, she said the following:
"My goal as a child was always to be
the best boxer, the champion and today, I want to be because it
is my dream. I just want to be an inspiration for many young
people who, like me, have the feeling that their dreams will
never come true."
"I want to open doors, I want to be a
motivation, I want to proudly represent my people in Mayagüez
and my island in Puerto Rico."
"Last but not least, I want to
thank my coach Douglas Ríos, my managers Richard Borges and
Jonathan Gaudier and the whole Ds management team for the
opportunity I will made the most of it in my professional boxing
career."
Carmarie's fight history thus far: Boxing (amateur): 20-2, Kickboxing: 6-1
and MMA: 1-0."
Carmarie was scheduled to make her debut last February
2020, in Houston, Texas, it was canceled due to the Corona
Virus pandemic.