Boxer Alexa Garrobo hoping to punch a ticket to Paris Olympics
Sep. 5—Online research reveals no direct flights on Alaska Airlines from Albuquerque to Paris.
That, though, is not stopping Peralta's Alexa Garrobo, Alaska Airlines employee and amateur boxer, from looking for her own French connection to the 2024 Olympics.
First stop: Pueblo, Colorado. Alaska Airlines doesn't fly there, either, but it's easily drivable on Interstate 25. There, Saturday through Sept 16, USA Boxing — the sport's U.S. amateur governing body — will hold its Last Chance Qualifier for the December Olympic Trials.
Garrobo's boxing ambitions, though, are not confined to 2023-24. Having recently turned 21, she believes there's more, a lot more, out there for her.
"I just want to get ranked," she said in a recent interview at Rosales Karate & Kickboxing, her training home. "I want to get known. I want to mark my spot. I want to represent the USA."
Based on available data, Garrobo would have to be considered a long shot to win in Pueblo and advance to the trials — not because she lacks the necessary talent but because she lacks the requisite experience. She'll go to Colorado with just 15 bouts — 12 wins, 3 losses — on her résumé.
"It's really tough getting fights," she said, "especially in New Mexico."
Earlier this year, Garrobo qualified unopposed for Golden Gloves nationals in Pennsylvania without having fought at the state and regional levels. At GG Nationals in suburban Philadelphia, she lost her first-round bout by unanimous decision to Detroit's Karma El-Chanti.
Garrobo, who's entered at Last Chance in the 125-pound weight class, fought El-Chanti at 132.
"It was a tough fight," she said. "I felt the extra weight. But ... I'm really thankful for the experience.
"I feel like due to that I've grown a lot more, and learned more and I'll be able to overcome some mistakes that I made."
The Garrobo he sees in training, coach Tony Rosales said, is not the Garrobo that lost to El-Chanti.
In sparring sessions with professional fighters Sharahya Moreu, Amber Brown and her Rosales teammate Katherine Lindenmuth, Rosales said, Garrobo gives as good as she gets.
The hurdle she needs to clear, he said, is the anxiety that too few fights have created.
"She's probably one of the better fighters out there, and that's my opinion as a coach," Rosales said. "... She fights at 125 (pounds) and she hits like a 145-pound man.
"I just need her to get past that anxiety. She lays into (her sparring partners), and I just can't get her to do that in competition. That's what we're looking for."
When interviewed a year ago, Garrobo was taking online classes at the University of New Mexico with an eye toward a career in law enforcement. A year later, she's an Alaska Airlines gate agent.
"I love it," she said. "I love the aviation (industry). I'm trying to be a flight attendant. I think that would be fun."
Garrobo's attendance at the gym, when she's not working or away for Alaska Airlines training in Seattle, has not flagged. Though she fully intends to qualify in Pueblo for the Olympic Trials, she said, there'll be other opportunities — in the amateurs and, eventually, in the pros.
For the latter, there's no rush.
"If the Olympic Trials don't pan out the way I want it," she said, "we're gonna try and push it these last couple of months (in 2023) and get more active and get more experience."
Then, "Hopefully, if I feel ready and prepared, we're gonna turn pro. ... I'm young. I still have time. But I feel like the more experience I can get at a young age, I could do so much by the time I'm 25."
