PUBELO — A ten-year-old girl from Pueblo took home one of the biggest titles in competitive boxing.
Cecelia Hernandez won the 2025 National Silver Gloves Boxing Tournament in Kansas City earlier this month. To make it to nationals, Hernandez won both the Colorado state and the regional tournaments.
“All my fights are tough,” Hernandez said.
She trains every day after school at Pueblo Stylers Boxing Gym. Hernandez said it was her dad that encouraged her to pick up the gloves.
“The first time I stepped into the ring,” Hernandez said, “I was nervous, really nervous.”
A fight is just as much a mental battle as it’s a physical one. Hernandez said she liked to listen to music and hit the mitts before a fight.
“You kind of get a little bit shaky, but you try to keep your head strong because the other person across the ring is nervous too. Sometimes you think they're not nervous, but they are,” Hernandez said.
She said learning to calm her nerves has led her to success. Hernandez has already earned several medals. Her dad, Luis Hernandez, said she has only been boxing competitively for 9 months.
She said training hard and discipline makes a good fighter. For Hernandez, that means she does cardio, weights, and lots of training every day after school.
“That ladder right there, I use that, and I usually just do footwork. And then we go upstairs and run. Then you get when you're done running, we come down here and shadow box. We do a couple rounds of shadow boxing after we do our exercises,” Hernandez said. “Tuesdays, you hit the brakes, Wednesday is weight day, and Thursday, spar night,” Hernandez said.
She said sparring with a coach is a great way to get strong for an upcoming fight.
“You're doing the same thing, but you're just getting in the ring. But I still recommend pretending like it's still a fight, so it helps you,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez is coached by a well-experienced team at Pueblo Stylers Boxing Gym.
“Cecilia is an awesome kid. She trains hard, she's dedicated, she does everything she's told, and more,” said Scott Gomez.
Scott Gomez is one of Hernandez’s coaches.
“So when she first came over here, she started fighting, and we watched her fight and she won her first couple fights, really big. And they were not easy fights,” Gomez said.“She threw the One Two like she was a professional, so the one-two is a jab in the right cross,” Gomez said.
Coach Gomez said he was so impressed he came up with the nickname 1-2 queen.
“She deserves everything she's got. You know so far, and there's more, much more to come,” Gomez said.
This year Hernandez won both state and regional championships punching her ticket to nationals. Hernandez fought for several rounds before being named the champion.
“I was really happy,” Hernandez said.
She is the 2025 National Silver Gloves Boxing Tournament Champion. Hernandez won the championship belt on February 1st in Kansas City.
“You just need to keep going towards them. Use aggression, and that's how you win. You just need to use all the aggression you have,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez hopes to inspire other girls to become boxers.
“If they want to do boxing, just go in it. It's really fun. If you box, just try hard every time you fight,” Hernandez said.
Her eyes are on another championship belt. Hernandez will box in the National Junior Olympic in Las Vegas This June.
She says “I want to thank my coach for where I am now and I want to thank my dad too. This is a great gym.”
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