Carrying the hopes and aspirations of Laredo, Texas, on her shoulders, U.S. boxer Jennifer Lozano will be traveling to the Paris Olympics as part of the Team USA Boxing. After being one of the finalists in the Santiago 2023 Pan American games, she became the first woman from Texas to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics. Describing her emotions on the day she qualified for the Olympics, Lozano commented, “It was such a great emotion that to this day I can’t describe. I just thought about the great change it was going to be, not only in the city, but for the future generations of boys and girls who are from Laredo, who have that thought, that mentality that if you are born in Laredo, you die in Laredo.”

For Lozano, it was a life full of personal hardships, and gang violence. She is truly a diamond in the rough who defied all the odds to qualify for one of the biggest sporting events in history. Born in a town situated on the border of Texas and Mexico, she has a rich Latin heritage. Join us as we explore Jennifer Lozano’s family history and the struggles she encountered in her early life.

Jennifer Lozano’s ethnicity, nationality, and early life

Lozano is an American boxer with Hispanic heritage, born to parents who are natives of Tamaulipas, Mexico. She carries the nickname of “La Traviesa” (The Troublemaker), with pride. It was given to Lozano by her late grandmother for the pranks she used to play as a child. The Olympian’s grandmother died in 2017 due to a shooting that happened in the neighborhood of Nuevo Laredo. In fact, the 21-year-old woman’s boxing career is a tribute to her grandmother, who was her pillar of strength. Her ‘Abuelita’s’ death had a profound impact on her. She was an emotional wreck as resentment, depression, and anxiety overwhelmed her. “I was so angry that I wanted to keep fighting. Out of four rounds we had to go, we ended up going eight or 12 rounds nonstop. I had a lot of bitterness. I wasn’t focused or anything and it was very hard to get out of that hole I was in. It was very dark,” Lozano told the LA Times. The tragedy almost derailed her boxing career.

It took Jennifer Lozano a long time to heal from the traumatic experience and get her focus back on training. Another experience in her childhood made her cling tightly to her roots. She was bullied by the kids in her school for speaking Spanish. Being overweight didn’t help either. This prompted her to put on the boxing gloves when she was nine, and she hasn’t looked back since. “I used to get picked on and bullied, so I wanted to defend myself. I told my mom I wanted to join a boxing gym.”

Boxing restored her self-esteem, and she was becoming a handful for the boys in her local gym. Her talent was recognized by Michelle and Eddie Vela, owners and coaches of Boxing Pride gym in Laredo, and she was encouraged by them to enroll in elite-level competitions. Lozano’s coaches describe her as an aggressive southpaw ready to smother her opponents.

From 2015-2019, under the two coaches’ guidance, she won the National Junior Olympics and the National Golden Gloves. Her recent achievements include a bronze medal at the 2023 GeeBee International Tournament, gold at the 2022 USA Boxing Elite Championship, and another bronze medal at the 2022 USA Boxing International Invitational.

Furthermore, Jennifer Lozano has something to prove to the town where she hails from and make her parents proud.

 All we need to know about The Troublemaker’s parents

Jennifer was born to Rubén Lozano and Yadira Rodríguez. However, no further information is available on her parents. They have done a commendable job in keeping themselves away from the spotlight and letting their daughter shine.

Witnessing her native place go through a lot of devastation due to the involvement of Mexican drug cartels, she will be fighting tooth and nail to change the age-old saying in her town, “If you are born in Laredo, you die in Laredo.” Furthermore, her winning a medal in the Olympics will be a tight slap on the culture of ‘machismo’ in her town that has held back women’s progress. Her success story will lead girls from her hometown to break away from the stereotypical roles and pursue careers that would make them independent.

“I keep telling myself like I got to do this I got to do this cuz I want to prove everybody in my city wrong I want to prove to all these little girls all these little boys all these kids that it is worth it and you can do it like no matter where you come from no matter what you go through,” Lozano asserted hopefully.

As Lozano goes for gold in this year’s Olympics, she will need the support of her fellow countrymen as she makes her way to Paris. You can convey your best wishes to the ‘Troublemaker’ from Texas in the comment section below.