Chavez Switches Gears
Female Featherweight Sensation Jackie Chavez Ready for Fight #3

text & photos by chris cozzone

Switching trainers is one of those cruel occurrences in boxing. Sometimes, you’ll see a fighter jump from trainer to trainer; other times, you’ll see him or her stick to one trainer throughout most of their career, then switch allegiances to a big name when they hit the big time. Other times, as in the case of Jackie Chavez, a change is due when they feel it’s time to transform their style, or take it to a new level.

Jackie learned to fight at the Rosales Gym in Los Lunas. Training under Tony Rosales for five years, she entered kickboxing matches and, after deciding to turn to boxing, learned the basics and turned pro. Under Rosales, she fought twice, dominating both opponents.

With just two fights, Chavez has already shown the potential to go as far as she wants to go in women’s boxing. That’s one of the reasons she says she decided to start training with her uncle, Ray Sanchez II.

“For one thing, Ray is family,” Jackie says. “The other reason is, Ray is more boxing-based. My uncle’s worked with boxing all his life. Tony works with both kickboxing and boxing. So, there’s going to be a difference. You learn different things from different people.”

The plan is to make a successful transformation from kickboxing to “real” boxing, says trainer Ray Sanchez II, who also trains his son, Little Ray, and has recently taken on Rudy “Bad Boy” Lovato.

“It’s a step-by-step process,” says Sanchez. “For this fight, we’re just working on a couple things: improving her stance and throwing basic one-two’s.”

“My stance is more narrow and my legs are bent more,” says Jackie. “Plus, my training has a lot more movement now. It’s more speed and movement, and working my jab more.”

The ‘new and improved’ Jackie Chavez will have a chance to go to work on Saturday on the KOX card in Pojoaque.

“The strategy is not so much to be aggressive but to stay busy and keep punching,” says Chavez.