The tight ponytail and long brown hair frame soft features although bruised by the impact of a fist. Despite his 22 years, Tania Alvarez She imposes seriousness with her mere presence, but as soon as she starts speaking, her smile reveals that deep down, she is nothing more than a brave girl willing to give everything for her dream. “I’m going to be champion Europa, and someday, of the world,” he says without hesitation. She was already the first spanish in fighting in the Madison Square Garden in 2023 and does not want to stop adding milestones to his resume.
On Saturday, April 13, the current Spanish super bantamweight champion (10-1, 2 KO’s) will face the Italian Maria Cecchi (10-2, 2 KO’s) at the Casal Cultural de Castellbisbal to win the European title. Nothing has been the result of chance in his career. Each and every one of the steps that the boxer from Sant Esteve Sesrovires has taken has been oriented in the same direction. “My life right now is 100% focused on boxing. From Monday to Saturday practically “I live in the gym”confesses Tania.
Tania Álvarez speaks with Toni Moreno at the reception of the club where she trains in Castellbisbal. / MANU MITRU
A shot of adrenaline
The preparation for this fight began months ago and in all phases of the process it has always been hand in hand with his coach, Toni Moreno. “She is completely dedicated. This camp has been tough and has not failed a single day,” explains her coach. Tania trains twice daily Monday to Friday and does an extra session on Saturdays. He only rests on Sundays, and with each passing day he becomes more tired. But he assures that “it will be worth it.”
From the first time he got into the ring, in 2019, in the same Casal Cultural where she became champion of Spain and will soon try to be champion of Europe, it was clear to her. “Five years after my first fight I know it’s the best thing I could have done”, he assures with a smile. “You feel everything to the fullest, you notice that your adrenaline rises and you see the audience there, that everyone is watching you… I don’t know, I liked experiencing all that and it was clear to me,” Tania remembers.
Although at first she is somewhat shy, Tania is a smiling girl and the “tough girl” appearance given to her by the war marks on her face contrasts with her sweet voice and calm speech. She is young, but she has things clear. “I want to make a living boxing, but right now I still can’t,” explains the Sasrovirense who has just signed her first sponsorship paid with a sponsor: Limited Andorra. For the moment, he combines training with work to be able to pay for the preparation. “I clean a house, and I help at the gym reception. I don’t charge much, but it doesn’t cause me physical wear and tear that prevents me from performing here and that is the priority now,” he says.
Toni Moreno spreads Vaseline on Tania Álvarez’s face before sparring. / MANU MITRU
Explosivity and reflections
Every morning, Tania religiously goes to Toni Moreno’s gym for her first session of the day. She usually starts at weights or cardiovascular exercise. “I do speed and strength training, running, sprints, stairs, coordination… At the beginning of the preparation I focused on load and resistance and now, in this final phase, we prioritize explosiveness and reflexes”, explains the boxer. She then returns home, where she lives with her mother, eats and rests for a while for the second session. Between training sessions, Tania has started a hyperbaric chamber treatment, in true Ilia Topuria style, to accelerate muscle recovery. “I cast my napecilla inside the machine and it works great for me,” she says with amusement.
In the afternoon, it’s time to put on gloves. “These days we are already working sparring with fighters that can help her in the fight, for example, with some left handed, like the Italian she faces,” explains her coach. For these sparring sessions, they sometimes travel to other gyms to be able to work with boxers similar to their opponents. “Then I’m immediately late, and from the gym I’m going straight home to have dinner and sleep to be able to repeat the process the next day,” explains the boxer.
The feeding It is not random either and is, like her training, completely personalized and focused on her goal. “At first it was difficult for me, especially to be consistent, but it has reached a point where I am so focused that I don’t miss eating like before,” she explains. In fact, she claims, He no longer eats big meals. of ‘cheatmeal’ because he has found pleasure in eating clean. “After winning the Spanish championship, we went to dinner with the team at a hamburger restaurant and I couldn’t even finish it. I’m so used to the diet that I don’t miss it,” she explains.
Love at first sight
Tania’s absolute dedication to this fight is not a flash in the pan. “They always tell me that I am losing my youth for being so focused on boxing at my age. Because I miss things like going out to party or hanging out all day with my friends,” explains the 22-year-old. “I, however, believe that I am focusing my energy on something that fulfills me and that everything has its moment. Maybe I don’t go out to party every weekend, but when I do, once or twice a year because I don’t fight and I can afford it, I enjoy it much more,” she says without remorse.
They are love story He started this sport when he was 14 years old. “At home they always wanted us to play sports. Every year I tried something, but I never got hooked. One day, my mother told my brother that she had found a boxing gym. I also wanted to try,” Tania remembers. She never thought that the day she crossed that glass door of the store on the main street of Castellbisbal she would change her life forever. “It was the first time I got hooked, I immediately wanted to compete and I realized that this was what I wanted to dedicate my life to,” she says.
A person videotapes boxer Tania Alvarez while she trains. / MANU MITRU
The first in New York
He has a tough, firm boxing style. He does not back down from the blows and attacks hard. “I am feisty, I give war,” she accurately describes. His brave attitude on the mat It earned her to become the first Spaniard to fight in the mythical Madison Square Garden in New York where she lost in a very worthy fight for her short experience against the ex-Olympic Australian boxer Skye Nicolson. “We knew that he was hasty, but to an opportunity like that, you can’t say no,” says her coach. “We didn’t think he would have such an impact, but he appeared on the news and they recognized her on the street,” says Toni. “She has managed to attract media attention to women’s boxing and give it notoriety, something that until now was difficult,” she says.
About a few weeks ago, Tania was invited to the program David Broncano on Movistar+, ‘La Resistencia’, and on social networks he shares his daily life with his followers. “There has always been the perception that boxing is only for thugs, conflictive people or people without a future. When I told people I was a boxer they told me ‘it can’t be’. “Social networks have contributed a lot to cleaning up that image,” he says. “I feel proud to have contributed my grain of sand so that fathers, mothers, boys and girls see that it is for everyone and that it does not have that dark side,” she says.
2024-03-31 11:46:39
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