Yvonne recalls “I remember growing up my mother always competed with men. She didn’t just want to be the best female athlete out on the court. She wanted to be the best athlete period. She has always been my inspiration and a strong woman I could look up to.”

Yvonne’s father always pushed Yvonne to be the best she could be and inspired her by example. Yvonne remarks, “My father is a perfect example of what hard work and determination can get you. He started with nothing and made a beautiful life for himself and his family.” It was this strong foundation that led Yvonne to attend the University of California, Berkeley, one of the most prestigious schools in the country and to pursue a career in one of the most demanding sports, boxing.

Prior to moving to Berkeley, Yvonne had competed in the sports of volleyball, running, basketball, softball, racquetball and triathlons. Always looking for a new way to challenge herself, Yvonne accompanied a friend to King’s boxing gym in Oakland, California. She recalls feeling a bit intimidated by the male dominated gym, but also intrigued and fascinated by the graceful moves and powerful punches of the boxers she observed.

After her first workout at the gym, Yvonne was hooked. She remembers “After my first time at the gym I knew I had found the ultimate physical and mental challenge for myself. I thought to myself ‘If I can do this, I can do anything’.” The support of Marsha and Charles King were priceless. “I was fortunate to start at a gym that was not only run by a woman, but that also welcomed women interested in boxing with open arms,” Caples remembers.

She sparred regularly with Nonito and Glen Donaire as well as Gina Guidi as she honed her boxing skills. “I learned so much from them. They always worked with me and never tried to hurt me in the ring.”

Fortunately for her, UC Berkeley had a boxing program as well where she met her first serious trainer, Will Thomas, who she called Mr. Thomas. “Mr. Thomas taught me the science and craft of boxing. He used to make me study old fight tapes of all the great fighters from the past like, Sugar Ray Robinson, Willie Pep, Kid Gavilan, Muhammad Ali, and Salvador Sanchez. He made me a student of the sport.” Yvonne graduated from UC Berkeley in December of 1994, a year and a half after she had started boxing with a Bachelor of Arts in English. Six months later, she went back to school to get her teaching credential.

It wasn’t until June 1996 that Yvonne got her first opportunity to compete. Despite the fact that women’s amateur boxing was legalized in 1993, finding opponents to fight proved extremely difficult and frustrating for Yvonne. Unfortunately, a week before her first fight, she had a falling out with Mr. Thomas and ended up driving 8 hours to Los Angeles with only a friend and her brother for support. Yvonne remembers the excitement and anxiety of her first fight. “I was so happy that I was finally getting the opportunity to compete, but I was also terrified that I would forget everything I had learned.” In the end, Yvonne’s hard training made the difference in a tough fight against top amateur Linda Carillo as she won her first fight.

Not only was 1996 the start of Yvonne’s amateur career, it also marked the beginning of her career as a teacher. Yvonne’s first assignment was teaching Opportunity at Portola Middle School in El Cerrito, California. Opportunity is a program for students who have gotten kicked out of regular school due to behavior problems. This tough group of students, most of whom were boys, challenged the inexperienced “Ms. Caples” right away. Yvonne decided to take them all to the gym and let them spar with her as a way to gain respect. She took 4 students a day to the gym until she had sparred with all of her students. Not only did she gain their respect, but she also found a way to motivate the students and began taking her students regularly to the gym. She stayed at Portola Middle School for two years and then transferred to Richmond High School in Richmond, California where she taught English and ESL. Yvonne also began coaching and working to develop the first collegiate women’s boxing team at UC Berkeley. She coached several women who competed in National Collegiate Boxing Association tournaments.

She continued here amateur career throughout this time. She fought in the first Women’s National Championships in 1997, dropping a 6-0 decision to Patricia Martinez of Miami, Florida in the preliminary round. Patricia and Yvonne had sparred frequently at King’s Gym. Yvonne recalled, “Patty was tough and had always gotten the best of me in sparring. I knew she would go on to win the entire tournament which she did.” Yvonne was the San Francisco Golden Gloves 106-lb champion three years in a row. She competed in the Blue and Gold in tournament in the 119 division as there were no opponents in her weight class and made it to the finals. She also competed in the 106-lb division of the 1999 USA Boxing Women’s National Championships in April 1999. Yvonne dominated Sophia Yin of Davis, California by a 30-2 margin to win in the quarterfinals, but lost a tough 5-4 decision to eventual national champion Linda Carillo in the semifinal. Although finding fights was always difficult, Yvonne went on to compile an amateur record of 13-4 over a span of three years fighting the likes of Patty Martinez, Jolene Blackshear and Marilyn Salcido. She capped her amateur career by winning the 106-lb title at the First National Women’s Golden Gloves Tournament in July of 1999 in Augusta Georgia. She defeated Brandy Madewell of Springdale, Arkansas by a 3-2 decision and then Tonya Nunn of Illinois by 5-0 in the finals to take the title.

During the summer of 1999, Yvonne had the opportunity to train for a month at her then manager Greg Hannley’s training camp, Prince Ranch in Las Vegas where she trained with Laura Serrano, Marischa Sjauw, Hannah Fox, and Brenda Burnside. “It was a blast and the stay convinced me to move to Las Vegas. It was great to be around a group of women who were as committed to boxing as I was and who understood the frustrations of being a woman in this sport.”

After the intense training session and winning the National Golden Gloves Title, Yvonne began her pro career in September of 1999 with an impressive TKO victory over Natasha Wilburn at the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica, Mississippi. The loss dropped Wilburn to 1-9.

On November 14, 1999 at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento, California, Yvonne (103 lbs) won a four-round unanimous decision over Wendy Rodriguez (106 lbs) of Los Angeles in a private event for a state police officers’ association. Caples, who won by a 40-36 margin on all three scorecards, dropped Rodriguez to 2-1.

Her next fight took place in Kenner, Louisiana on February 11th on an all-woman’s card that was aired on ESPN. Unfortunately, the experience of Kim Messer proved to be too much too soon for Yvonne who lost a six-round decision (58-56 on all cards). Messer a veteran kickboxer and pro boxer from Bellevue, Washington user her ring skills, experience, and at times an aggressive body attach, to outhustle and control Caples who appeared to fade toward the end of what was her first six-round bout. Messer moved her pro boxing record to 8-2-1 with the win.

In June of 2000, Yvonne made the move to Las Vegas, although no longer managed by Greg Hannley. She took a year off from teaching, hoping to get a jump start on her boxing career in Las Vegas and to begin her master’s degree in sports coaching. In August 2000, Yvonne (108.5 lbs) fought her first ten round fight for the IBA intercontinental title, but lost a controversial unanimous decision to the promoter’s wife, Lori Lord (112 lbs). Caples bloodied Lord’s nose in the fourth round, but she wasn’t aggressive enough to persuade the judges to favor her over the local fighter. All three judges scored the fight 96-94 for Lord.

On October 2, 2000 at Celebrity Theater in Phoenix Arizona, Yvonne lost by unanimous decision to 18-year-old rising star Elena Reid. Reid pressured Yvonne pressure Caples throughout the fight, throwing many accurate combinations and moving her own record to 3-1 with the win. Of the fight, Yvonne says “I wasn’t in very good shape for this fight and I had never fought another southpaw fighter before. It ended up being a war and the first fight where I felt like I got hurt. Elena is bigger and stronger than me and she hits hard!”

On October 13, 2000 at Spa Resort and Casino in Palm Springs, California, Yvonne won a four-round unanimous decision to Nadine Salim of Palm Springs who fell to 2-2-1.

On January 28th of 2001, Yvonne fought a rematch in Phoenix, Arizona with Elena Reid that ended in a four round majority draw on a fight that was televised on Univision and part of a card fought in an outdoor ring on a parking lot at Park and Swap. Elena won the odd rounds, but Yvonne came back in the even stanza as they fought to tallies of 38-38, 38-38, 39-37 (for Elena) on the scorecards. Yvonne and Elena became good friends and roommates after the two fights when Elena moved up to Las Vegas to train.

On April 7, 2001 in Rochester Washington, Yvonne (107 lbs) fought and won a four-round unanimous decision over 1999 Canadian National 51-Kg amateur champion Robin Pinto (111 lbs) of British Columbia, who was making her pro debut. It turned out to be a special event for Yvonne as she not only won the decision, but was also voted best fighter of the night by the crowd. It was also the first fight where she trained under Leroy Caldwell who would remain her trainer for the rest of her professional career.

Yvonne did not get the opportunity to compete for another year, but was able to get back to her other passion of teaching and coaching when she started teaching at Coronado High School in August of 2001. She also started an afterschool boxing program for her students at the high school.

On April 12, 2002 at the Stratosphere in Las Vegas, Nevada in a much anticipated 110 lb contest Yvonne fought former IWBF champion Para Draine of Mead, Washington and won a six-round majority decision (58-56, 58-56, 57-57). It was the first and only time she had the opportunity to fight professionally in her hometown and many of her students came to watch her fight. Both fighters looked a little ring rusty. Draine had lost her IWBF world flyweight world title to Canada’s Margaret Sideroff in April 2000, but didn’t fight again until March 30, 2002 when she defeated Robin Pinto. Draine fell to 11-5 with the loss.

On July 3, 2002 at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey, California, Yvonne (110lbs) won a six-round unanimous (58-56, 58-56, 58-56) over Marilyn Salcido (112 lbs) of Rialto, California who fell to 8-3-2 with the loss. Caples jabbed and moved from the southpaw stance in the opening round while Salcido tried to find her way inside. Caples caught Salcido with a hard left to the head in the second round, but Salcido came on strong in this and the third round. The fourth round saw good action on the inside as Salcido became more aggressive, but still was unable to land hard leather consistently on Caples, who replied with several telling combinations. The last two rounds saw good action from both fighter until the final bell with Salcido tried to muscle her way in as Yvonne boxed from the outside.

On August 17, 2002 Yvonne traveled to Europe to fight in her first world title fight against German Superstar, Regina Halmich. Although, Regina had 30 more professional fights than Yvonne, she used her speed and skill to frustrate the experienced Halmich at the Estrel Convention Center in Berlin, Germany. Halmich won a majority decision (96-94, 96-94. 95-95), but Yvonne won the respect of the German crowd. The result was greeted by boos and whistles because many at ringside thought that Caples had fought well enough to have handed the German world champion her second pro loss. Yvonne says of the fight “I knew that I had to knock her out to win and I knew that I probably wouldn’t be able to knock her out due to her vast experience, but I wanted to prove to myself that I was one of the best fighters in the division and this fight proved it.” Halmich advanced her record to 40-1 while Caples slipped to 6-4-1.

In 2002, she traveled to the other side of the world to Agana, Guam to fight for the WIBA intercontinental title against Anissa Zamarron on November 22nd at the Guam University Field house. In the fourth round, Yvonne was accidentally head butted by Anissa and a large cut developed over her right eye. The fight was stopped at the 1:50 of the fifth round. Although Yvonne was ahead on all of the judge’s scorecards the decision was awarded to Anissa since the referee did not see the head butt. Zamarron said that she felt good about the outcome because she had been the aggressor in the fight, but Caples was upset by the stoppage. Zamarron advanced to 14-10-2 with the win.

On March 29, 2003 at Chamsil Gymnasium in Seoul, South Korea, Yvonne fought flyweight In-young Lee of South Korea. Lee won a unanimous 8 round decision over Yvonne. Caples used her reach advantage and jab in the first two rounds to control Lee, but the more aggressive Lee user her hooks well and bloodied Caples’ nose in the third. Caples used good footwork to stymie Lee and keep the fight on even terms in the fourth and early in the fifth, but Lee stepped up her pace later in the round to land several hard shots. The sixth round had less action, but Lee continued to charge forward with hooks and uppercuts in the seventh and eighth as Caples appeared to tire under Lee’s steady barrage.

On July 26, 2003, Yvonne finally realized her dream of becoming a world champion. While it was supposed to be a rematch with Para Draine for the IFBA Junior Flyweight title. Draine pulled out two weeks before the fight and Mary Duron of Anaheim, California stepped up to take the fight. Despite the short notice, Duron put up a determined fight and had the crowd behind her at the Hilton Hotel in Costa Mesa, California. Yvonne won the fight by a 10-round unanimous decision (100-90, 100-90, 98-92). As Duron had to say after the fight, “Yvonne did not win the belt as easy as the score cards made it look. I gave her a strong 10 rounds and with every round I got stronger. I think Yvonne is a great fighter and we both went out and gave 100%. I felt the fight was a lot closer than what the judges saw.” Duron fell to 4-5-1. For Yvonne, “It was a dream come true. I just hope I can continue to fight well and defend my title against the best fighters in the division.” Unfortunately, Yvonne never got the opportunity to defend her title and it was vacated for non-defense on November 5, 2004. It was a heartbreaking time for Yvonne, but she continued to go on the road to fight the best in her weight division.

On September 18, 2004 in Kyoto, Japan, Yvonne (105 lbs) fought to a controversial ten-round majority draw with Yuko Sodeoka (101 lbs) of Japan who was awarded the belt for the vacant WIBA Mini-flyweight title.

On November 27, 2004 at the Hyatt Regency in Monterey, California, Carina Moreno (107 lbs) of Watsonville, California won an 8 round unanimous decision (78-72 on all scorecards) over Yvonne (108 lbs). Moreno made it look easy against the experienced and taller Caples, who had stepped in to take the fight on short notice. Caples used a busy right jab and accurate left crosses in the first round and generally tried counter punching tactics against the aggressive Moreno, but Moreno dominated her in the later rounds with her own jab and outworked Caples with quick combinations to the body. She bloodied Caples’ nose in the fight and appeared to get stronger and more confident as the fight went on with the crowd chanting “Carina! Carina!”

“This was a huge win for me,” Moreno told Monterey Herald report Dennis Taylor, “She’s one of the best in the world, and to come out on top in a fight like this makes me so happy.”

“She was a busy fighter,” said Caples. “I’d have to say she’s right up there with anybody I’ve fought.”

On May 27, 2005 at the Jean Pierre Sports Complex in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago local fighter Ria Ramnarine (104.5 lbs) won the WIBA Mini-Flyweight World Title by a very controversial 10-round split decision. Tobago Judge George St. Aude and Derek Herbert from Barbados both gave Ramnarine the fight 97-93, while Andre Thorne of Guyana had it 97-93 in favor of Caples.

Trinidad Express reporter Ian Prescott wrote that, “Ramnarine was always open to be hit by her opponent’s left and was stopped in her tracks every time the American connected. Ramnarine tried bobbing and weaving, but she was always that second slower than Caples, who stuck the jab and moved away before Ramnarine got set to throw her fists. A quick left sent Ramnarine to the canvas in the second round. Caples looked the better fighter, mixing up her punches, jabbing to the head and stomach and dishing out the occasional uppercut and hook.” Furthermore, he reported, “Many in the local boxing fraternity felt Yvonne had won by a landslide. Tansley Thompson, a local boxing promoter said, ‘If any of my boxers have to win like that, I’d rather lose. From what I could see, it was a case of Ria needing a knockout to win.’”

On June 28, 2005 in Pyongyang, North Korea, Yvonne lost a 10-round unanimous decision to Eun Soon Choi of North Korea for the vacant WBC Junior Flyweight world title. “What can I say?” Yvonne reported, “You are not going to get a decision in North Korea. At least I knew that going into it. It was an opportunity to fight a tough fighter in a country that I would never otherwise get to see. It was truly a surreal experience fighting in front of 15,000 North Koreans.”

On October 8, 2005 at Harrah’s in Laughlin, Nevada on a Ring of Their Own All Women’s Card, Wendy Rodriguez (105 lbs) of Los Angeles, California won an 8-round unanimous decision (80-72. 77-75. 79-73) decision over Yvonne (105 lbs) in the main event. Rodriquez improved to 16-2-3 with the win. Yvonne stated, “I totally underestimated Wendy this time around. She has incredible boxing skills and totally outboxed me that night.”

On December 8, 2006 at the Paradise Theater in the Bronx, New York, former US national amateur 106 lb champion Suszannah Warner (101.75 lbs) of New York won an eight-round unanimous decision (78-74, 79-73, 78-74) over Yvonne (100 lbs) for the vacant NABF Atomweight title. At that point Yvonne knew she was done competing as she stated, “I just don’t feel like I have the drive or confidence anymore.”

Yvonne had one more ill-fated comeback fight 7 years later on September 12, 2014 at the Durham Armory in Durham, North Carolina against Ebony Rivera. She lost a unanimous decision (39-37, 39-37, 40-36) to Rivera. “I don’t know what I was thinking trying to make a comeback. I’m definitely too old for this now!” Yvonne stated after the fight.

“I am really proud of all my accomplishments in boxing. I fought a long list of top-quality opponents who often outweighed me and almost always fought those fighters in their hometown. I won a national title as an amateur and fought in many world titles and won a world championship as a professional. All while working full-time as a teacher and earning two Master's Degrees,  I helped pave the way for upcoming generations of women in the sport. At the end of the day that’s pretty special despite having a record that does not speak to my accomplishments. For me, it’s always been about the opportunity to fight. I think it’s really unfortunate that you are not supposed to lose in boxing. In any other sport losing is a completely normal and expected part of the sport, but not in boxing.” When asked what advice she would give to upcoming boxers, she states this, “It’s very important to have a solid amateur career. If you aren’t holding your own in national amateur tournaments, you have no business being a professional boxer. I also think it’s important to surround yourself with good people who know and understand the business and sport of boxing. Finally, work really hard and be humble. There are so many amazing fighters out there, but if you believe in yourself and work every day to grow and learn, you can make it in this sport. Even if you go on to other pursuits beyond boxing, the skills, resilience and bravery you get from the sport will serve you well in life.”

Yvonne has also been involved in coaching and officiating throughout her years and hopes to continue to make an impact in the sport from the other side especially by supporting women who want to box and by being a high-quality coach and official. She still considers herself a student of the sport. As she says, “Most competitive boxers work really hard at their craft and are putting themselves at harm’s way every time they step in the ring. I feel a strong conviction to support boxers to keep them safe and teach them strong foundational skills as well as hone my skill as an official to ensure that decisions at the events I work are fair.” In Las Vegas, she supported her trainer Leroy Caldwell to run his gym and also helped coach young fighters. In 2011, she moved to Raleigh, North Carolina and has worked at several gyms in the area as a coach and has been an amateur judge and referee since 2013. She currently coaches boxing at a local gym in Raleigh, North Carolina. In September 2023, she was invited by USA boxing to work as a coach at the elite junior high performance training camp in San Diego to support girls ages 14-16 who are in the top 4 of their weight class. “It was a truly inspiring experience working with the young girls who are the future of this sport. Watch out y’all, they’re fierce!” You can read more about her experience at the training camp here. Most recently, she got certified as a professional judge and plans to continue her career officiating in the professional arena.

Yvonne currently lives and works in Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband and two beautiful children. In her spare time, she enjoys scuba diving, yoga, being with her boxing community, bhangra dancing, traveling and spending time with her family. You can read more about her career and follow her blog and Instagram feed by checking out her website at https://yvonnetcaples.com/boxing.