“My main goal is to get to the Olympics, it’s the goal I’m fighting for,” adds the boxer from Cartagena.
The boxer from Cartagena Nayara Arroyo, ‘La Faraona’ (19 years old), has become a benchmark in women’s boxing. The boxer from the popular 600 district has only been boxing for four years and has already been declared champion of Spain in the highest category. At the beginning of this month of February, she was called up by the national team to participate in the World Boxing Tour Belt, an international boxing championship that took place in Marrakech and saw the participation of 50 countries from around the world. Nayara took the bronze medal in her category (-57 kilos).
–How did your mother take it when she found out you wanted to be a boxer?
–My family was very happy that I did boxing, since my brother was already into this sport and he thought it was a good idea to do it in pairs and train together. In fact, my brother trained me too. Some days the gym closed because we trained together on the street. Boxing is a sport my family already had in mind when I started it.
What is your motto in life?
–My life motto is to do everything with my heart, because that is the only way to always go well. I think if you do something from your heart, you are right. So when I go into boxing or anything else, I do it from the heart and the result will always be good.
– What is the hardest and most beautiful part of boxing?
–The hardest part, in my opinion, is when to prepare to get into a ring. For example, you can’t box with negative thoughts in your head, or with bad things happening to you. The hardest thing in this sport is when something bad happens to you and you have to know how to distinguish it and put it aside. I tell myself ‘you need to concentrate’. It is difficult because you have to put aside negative thoughts, which are sometimes many, and focus on boxing. When you enter the ring you must only have positive thoughts in your head, otherwise you are lost. As for the hardest part, regardless of weight and stuff, it’s when you have to get over your head and those bad thoughts that are there from time to time. The best thing is when this feeling is overcome and you realize what you are capable of. Perhaps the problem was not so strong nor so bad, and you realize that thanks to boxing you can put aside and overcome the bad moments.
–What things have you heard from men in a gym during your career?
I’ve heard all sorts of comments from men. Some see me as a woman because I do what I do, because I see the desire I put into it and because of the courage I put into it. Then there are others who just see me, or saw me, as a girl who does boxing, for sports or for entertainment. There are different opinions.
–Is mental preparation for boxing very important?
-In this sport I think mental preparation is the most important thing. For boxing, I think if you have an incredible physique but are broken mentally, it’s never going to work out. So I think so, it’s essential to be physically fit, it’s very important because you don’t go anywhere without physical fitness, but mentally you also have to be well prepared.
– Do you have to hide what you feel when you step into the ring?
– It is true that often when you have to box you have to hide your feelings, in the sense that if something bad happens to you, you have to put it aside. This is what I said earlier. If something bad happens to you, you have to put it aside and say, ‘I have to go out with my best attitude about boxing’. It’s true that at some point in my life when I had to go to the ring and some bad things happened to me, I had to put them aside because if I kept the problem in my head and I went to the box I knew I was going to go wrong It’s true that on many occasions I’ve had to wear a breastplate in order to fight. At some point you have to hide your feelings, put them aside and say, “No, no. I need to know how to differentiate. And yes, it’s true that I had to do it at some point. It is also true that boxing has made me tougher in life. In addition, this is a very complete sport, which has given me a lot.
Thanks to trying this sport, I learned a form of therapy that makes me feel better, because when something bad happens to me, I rely heavily on boxing. If I hadn’t practiced this sport, I wouldn’t have the personality I have.
How has boxing helped you?
-It helped me a lot. Simply put, boxing has taught me to always bring out the best in myself. It taught me that if you have a bad day, when you start training, you realize afterwards that the day hasn’t been so bad after all. Or that if you have a problem, you start exercising and even though the problem is still there, you realize it may not be as strong or not as strong as it seemed. Boxing taught me that you have to know how to deal with problems and that you also have to know how to differentiate. You don’t have to drown in a glass of water. The problem exists, but it has a solution, everything in life has a solution. Nothing happens because the boyfriend left you, the world does not end. Hopefully all the bad in life is your boyfriend leaving you or your boyfriend cheating on you.
–Have you become a tougher person in life with boxing?
–This sport teaches you to see life differently, not to scratch yourself for nonsense. It taught me not to worry about nonsense. There are girls my age who are very worried about what is normal at 19 years old, so to speak: what if the boyfriend, what if the friends, what if I don’t know what…
Boxing is such an independent sport that it teaches you that you are alone and nothing happens because your boyfriend leaves you or cheats on you, even worse for him. I don’t know if I understand myself, but boxing has made me have a very strong personality, and I love it because I don’t have to worry about nonsense. As a child I worried about trifles, I drowned in a glass of water and now I say: if this is nonsense, I will eat this. This is also due to boxing.
Are your injuries okay?
– Thank God I didn’t have a serious injury that prevented me from training for a long time. It is true that I had an operation on my feet, but I rested and everything went well. It has not been an injury that has required months of rest or anything like that.
What was your goal in boxing?
–When I started boxing I couldn’t imagine getting where I am now, in the national team, I didn’t imagine this situation, honestly, because my only goal was to play sports. And today it has become my daily occupation, and even my job, because in the end I get up and box, in the afternoon I box and go out to compete in a ring. In the end, I was able to turn my hobby into my job. I am happy and I am very happy to see that I manage to take my name to the top of boxing and to represent Spain. These are things I could never have imagined, because I claim it wasn’t something I had in my head. It’s something that came naturally and to this day I love what I do.
– Your idols?
It will seem crazy, but honestly my brother is the only idol I have. I’ve watched him box since I was little and he taught me most of the things I know. Everything I’ve accomplished is due to what he taught me because I’ve watched him leave his skin or see the sacrifice he had during every training session. Since I was little I had him as an idol and a reference. Even though he doesn’t box anymore, every fight I do and everything I do boxing I am reminded of him. I didn’t know anything about boxing, I didn’t know a single boxer, only him, who also taught me. He became my idol since I was little and to this day, although I know more boxers, my brother is still in everything. Someone might say, “Of course it’s his brother, that’s normal,” but not really. For me, my brother is the best, and that’s all.
–How would you convince a girl to take up boxing?
– I would say that to anyone. I would recommend it to you, since it is a sport that helps not only physically, but also psychologically, in all respects, because it is the most complete sport. I had tried other sports before, like handball and athletics, but none have given me as much satisfaction as boxing, and I am a person who gets tired of things easily, but I have been serious about this sport for two years now. So I would highly recommend. To this day I think I have found my sport, the sport that makes me feel complete and happy, that helps me and that brings out the best in me. I have already found my sport and I would recommend it to girls, boys, to everyone I would recommend boxing.
What are your big goals?
– My biggest goals, or my biggest goal in boxing, is to get to an Olympics, that’s what I fight for, what I get up for every day, what I always want to train for. At 7 o’clock in the morning, still half asleep, I’m already working out and I do it with pleasure. My willpower can do more than my tiredness and everything. My desire to improve myself, get to the Games, achieve all my goals is greater than anything that comes after that. I’m going to give everything to achieve it because I want it and I know I’m going to achieve it. I put my heart into everything I do and that’s how it will be.
Nayara Arroyo was called up by the national team to participate in the World Boxing Tour Belt, an international boxing championship that took place in Marrakesh from January 31 to February 12 and featured boxers from 50 countries around the world.
The boxer from Cartagena represented Spain in the -57kg elite women’s category, the youngest in the category and selection. He played and won his first game against Tianna Guy (representing Trinidad and Tobago). In the semifinals, she faced Russia’s Liudmila Vorontsova in a match that lost the 600 by decision, eventually taking bronze.
La Faraona’s presence and call-up to the national team is becoming more and more common despite his youth, which speaks of the level and projection he confirms every day. This international championship has served him to accumulate fights and minutes in Nayara’s luggage, and to prepare for his goals such as the European and World Championships and the Olympic Games.
Source: La Verdad
I am Shawn Partain, a journalist and content creator working for the Today Times Live. I specialize in sports journalism, writing articles that cover major sporting events and news stories. With a passion for storytelling and an eye for detail, I strive to be accurate and insightful in my work.
