Every afternoon, Rosario Marcial takes a bus to the gym accompanied by her young son regardless of the weather conditions.
This has been her routine for more than a year. When her son was still learning to walk, she had to lift his baby stroller on and off the bus.
Highlights:
- Rosario Marcial has resumed her professional boxing career five years after arriving in Australia.
- She fights under the name "The Aztec Warrior".
- Her father introduced her to the sport at a young age as a way to channel her hyperactivity.
But Ms Marcial doesn't go to the gym every day just for fitness. The young Mexican woman, who five years ago migrated to Australia, is striving to become a women's boxing world champion, a journey that began in her home country when she was a child.
Ms Marcial comes from a small, Mexican community where boxing is viewed as a “male thing”.
From a very young age, she was determined to prove everyone wrong.
"My dad was the one who decided to take me boxing because I was very hyperactive as a child,” she explains.
I liked it, and I started competing in several tournaments.
She says her mother never liked that her daughter was in boxing training because she was afraid she would get hurt.
At the age of 12, Ms Marcial climbed into the ring for the first time to face off in an amateur fight, which she won.
It didn't take long for her to start fighting professionally and it was in that environment, at the age of 18, that she met her husband, with whom she would migrate to Australia in 2017.
Rosario Marcial has ambitions to be bantemweight champion. Source: Supplied
After arriving in the country at age 20 and six months pregnant, her lack of English ability and support networks plunged her into a sense of despair.
“I thought I was never going to return to boxing,” Ms Marcial says.
I thought I was going to be a full-time mum. I no longer had any plans to continue boxing because I was sad and discouraged.
"When I talked to my dad he would tell me: 'if you want to go back to training, try to find a gym'.”
Then my husband told me, ‘start looking for gyms on the internet and go without fear and ask.’
She said it was the combination of her father's support from a distance and that of her husband in Australia which pushed her to knock on doors.
One day, this usually shy woman mustered the courage to put her son in his stroller, take the bus and head to a boxing gym she had seen on the internet.
With little English, she asked for information, signed up and started training.
Hassan El-Achrafi, who become her coach after a few days, says he remembers the day the softly-spoken woman entered the gym with her baby.
She didn't speak much English, but she told me she wanted to come and train – but because she didn’t speak English, she showed me her translated request on her phone – and I said ‘yes’.
El-Achrafi says once he saw Ms Marcial start throwing punches, it became obvious how powerful and strong she is.
Her technique and her dedication in training led to Mr El-Achrafi suggesting that she continue boxing competitively in Australia.
Excited by this new opportunity that life had given her, Ms Marcial says she began to look for a new fighting name and settled on “The Aztec Warrior”.
In less than a year, she challenged herself to her first fight at the amateur level. The experience helped her assess her strength and mental fitness, and regain her confidence in the boxing ring in her new country.
“I was very nervous after having spent almost five years without fighting,” she confesses.
“I did not feel the same as when I was in Mexico, where I had constant training. I felt very tired in that fight but fortunately, I won!”
The “Aztec Warrior” debuted a few months ago at the professional level in Australia and on July 2, she will face her second fight at the professional level, this time in the bantamweight category.
For this fight, she has been training three hours per day while her son plays with his toys and naps.
According to her coach, the Aztec Warrior's determination, persistence and technique can take her far.
“I knew something about her was different because girls don't hit like that. She hits very hard, she hits harder than most of my guys. In Australia I think she has a lot of opportunities. Yes, I think she can get to the top if she really wants to,” Mr El-Achrafi said.
