Have you ever heard the name Alan Navarro? Probably not but you might pretty soon! Alan Navarro is a senior that currently attends Pacifca High School and is on the road to becoming a professional boxer. He started professionally boxing at 17 years old but he got into boxing at age 6. Oxnard seems to be a strange place to find great boxers but actually some great boxers came from this small town such as Fernando Vergas and Robert Garcia. Alan admitted that one of the reasons he was so into boxing was due to the fact that he had grown up around professional boxers. His father is a professional boxer and has always had friends like himself. As a matter of fact, Alan’s coach is currently his own father!

In addition to Alan going to high school in Oxnard, he was also born and raised there. Alan is 18 years old and he fights in Mexico City. “Traveling to Mexico is different from here and the people there are amazing and nice and I’ve started my career in Mexico because I was 17 and it’s not legal to fight in the U.S professionally until 18.” Before a fight, he likes to eat a banana and an apple one hour before so that he has the energy he needs to have a good match. The day after a fight he’ll usually have pasta and a good amount of protein to rebuild all the muscle soreness. The days he has free time he usually goes to the gym 3 times a day and keeps doing that consistently so that he build’s his stamina and is ready for a match at anytime. “Everyone is a fighter but not everyone can wake up at 4 in the morning to run and not everyone has enough discipline. You have to have the heart and will power to get out of the locker room and into the ring, which it takes a man to do that but remember this is a hard sport and not a game that can kill you but everyone has 2 hands and a brain.”

Alan’s family is very supportive of his boxing career, but they know that it’s a dangerous sport and they always have to be very prepared for any interfering adversity. Despite ot being a dangerous sport, he does it because he is highly enthusiastic and passionate about the sport. It also happens to be that his father is one of his biggest motivators in his boxing career. “My dad is the reason I got into boxing. It’s just the only sport that we ever watched growing up and it’s always been in my life and my dad is a boxing manager so I’ve been around professionals my whole life”. His second biggest inspiration would be professional boxer, Canelo. “Just to see where he came from to where he is now just gives me the determination to go further with my career.”

Mr. Navarro always tells his son to always work hard and to pour his heart and soul into what he loves to do. Mr.Navarro was an Olympian for Mexico in the 1996 Olympics but retired due to his son being born. “He always had me around boxing. He has been a boxing manager his whole life and I’ve always been around professional boxers. He’s straight up and honest with me but I always bust my ass in the gym so he never questions me or he never has to tell me to work hard. I already have that in me. Every fight can be your last. He’s the one that goes through all the hard times with me.”