“No matter what I do, my family will always be there and
have my back,” Gabriela Fundora impressed upon me recently.
She comes from a fighting family, each one of them having
been boxers at one time or another and for varying lengths of time. The Fundoras’
home base is Coachella, the Southern California city with a global recognition
based primarily on the annual music festival bearing its name. But the Fundora
family has been doing everything in its power since relocating there a decade
ago to put Coachella on the map as a world-renowned boxing town.
Gabriela’s brother and best friend Sebastian, the six and
a half foot tall ‘Towering Inferno,’ held the interim version of the WBC
super-welterweight title and was in line for a world title shot until just
recently when he suffered his first professional defeat this past April. His
sister, meanwhile, floored and decisioned Maria Santizo on the undercard.
“Sebastian and I do everything together. Whether it be
training alongside each other or going to the store,” says Gabriela. “We keep
each other on our toes. There is no better person to share your same passion
with than your sibling.”
Sebastian is intent on using the learning experience of
being knocked out by Brian Mendoza to go back to the drawing board and resume
his trajectory toward winning a world championship. However, it seems as if his
sister just might beat him to the punch. Gabriela will be vying for her first
world title against IBF flyweight champion Arely Muciño on October 21.
“My other brothers boxed briefly but they went a
different route because boxing was not their passion,” explains Gabriela. “I
also have a little sister, Fabiola, (nicknamed ‘Twisted Sister’) that is
training very hard and will soon start her amateur career.”
Their father and trainer Freddy, a Cuban exile who fled
from the Castro regime with his parents in the late 70s, was taught to box by
an uncle when he was just a little boy and spent a short time as a professional
fighter after first settling in Florida. Freddy’s second wife, Monique, had ventured
into the squared circle herself on three successful occasions before gifting
her pink gloves to a young Gabriela in a sort of rite of passage.
“My role models not just in boxing but in everything are
my parents. They have been my life coach since I was born,” she insists with a familial
pride that is unflappable. “I wouldn’t be where I’m at today if it wasn’t for
them.”
Gabriela started learning how to throw jabs and slip
punches when most other kids are still getting the hang of their A, B, C’s and
1, 2, 3’s. “I began boxing at the age of six,” she tells me. “I won the Junior
Olympics and the Nationals multiple times and was named boxer of the tournament
for Nationals. I was also named boxer of the year in 2017.”
Because Gabriela, who was 18 at the time, just missed the
age cutoff to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic games, I was curious to know
if she gave any consideration to sticking around for a chance to go for the
gold in 2024. “No,” she responded without hesitation. “By the time my amateur
career ended, Covid hit. Deciding to go pro was probably one of the easiest
decisions I’ve ever made. I always knew that I wanted to become professional
and I took Covid as a time to transition.”
Signing a long-term promotional contract with Sampson
Lewkowicz, who also represents Sebastian, the five-foot-nine southpaw who calls
herself ‘Sweet Poison’ made her pro debut on May 15, 2021 by decking Jazmin Valverde
in the second round en route to a four-round unanimous decision.
As a novice to the paid ranks, Gabriela was the
beneficiary of invaluable sparring sessions with Cecilia Braekhus and words of
wisdom from Christy Martin. She fought once a month from July to October of her
rookie year, emerging victorious in all but the last outing, a no-contest
against Alejandra Martinez which to date represents the lone blemish on her
otherwise spotless record (11-0, 4 KOs).
Gabriela has shared the bill with Sebastian on two
occasions, the first of which saw Fundora capture her first title by beating
Naomi Reyes last October to claim the vacant WBC Latino flyweight belt while
her brother scored an impressively wide decision over Carlos Ocampo in defense
of his interim 154-pound championship. Her second belt was earned back in
February when Gabriela outworked Tania Hernandez over ten rounds to take
possession of the WBC Youth flyweight title.
Gabriela is currently ranked fourth by The Ring in
the highly competitive 112-pound division headed up by unified champion Marlen
Esparza. Positioned ahead of Ibeth Zamora, Fundora is poised to overtake Kenia
Enriquez and Celeste ‘Chucky’ Alaniz, not to mention her upcoming opponent and
IBF champion, Arely Muciño. The IBF’s number two
contender, Gabriela was named as their mandatory challenger to Muciño (32-3-2,
11 KOs), who will be making the maiden defense of the world flyweight title she
won by a controversial split decision over Leonela Yudica nearly a year ago
against Fundora at the Forum in Inglewood on October 21.
“We train hard for every fight. I’m glad now that we are
able to take a next step into our goal,” Gabriela affirmed with extreme
conviction. Not that she is in any way taking a victory over Muciño for granted,
but Fundora nevertheless said to me, “My goal is to become a Unified World
Champion.”
Speaking of champions, Gabriela got to mingle with the
likes of Alicia Ashley, Lucia Rijker, Ann Wolfe, Rafael Marquez, Michael Nunn,
and Roberto Duran to name a few, as well as fight fans from around the globe (myself
included), at this year’s International Boxing Hall of Fame induction weekend
in Canastota. Needless to say, she was accompanied by Sebastian, and both fun-loving
siblings were joined by the Fundora patriarch, Freddy.
“The International Boxing Hall of Fame was a memorable
moment for me because I was able to be alongside some of the greatest boxers in
history,” recounted Gabriela. “I had my hand casted, I was even in the parade
they do for the inductees.”
As for what kind of non-boxing related hobbies the soft-spoken
but competitive Gabriela enjoys, she often engages in chess games and karaoke
battles with Sebastian and also related to me, “During my free time I do enjoy
a good book.”
To end on that note, Gabriela will be writing the next exciting chapter in her own life story next Saturday when she attempts to take the IBF flyweight title from Arely Muciño, making her hometown of Coachella proud and becoming the first world champion among the fighting Fundoras.
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