Bullied as a kid, Jennifer Lozano channeled her response into a U.S. Olympic boxing career

U.S. boxer Jennifer Lozano started thinking about how far the sport could take her at nine years old in Laredo, Texas.

U.S. boxer Jennifer Lozano started thinking about how far the sport could take her at nine years old in Laredo, Texas. When she secured her spot in the 2024 Paris Olympics during last October’s Pan American Games, she finally realized a dream years in the making.

“That was surreal. I just couldn’t believe what was right in my hand,” she told NBC News. “Something I was working so hard for. Something I had dreamt of for so long for years since I was a kid and everything I had to go through just to be here.”

But getting to this point wasn’t easy. Lozano was often teased in school for her weight and Spanish accent, despite living in a city where about 90% of the population speaks Spanish at home. When seeking advice on how to handle bullying, she turned to the person she trusted the most: her grandmother.

“She just told me, “Sweetheart, if someone ever hits you, you hit them back. Don’t allow it,” Lozano said on NBC’s My New Favorite Olympian podcast. “I was like, ‘You’re right.’” 

Taking her grandmother’s advice, Lozano joined her local boxing gym.

https://www.nbcnews.com/sports/olympics/olympics-boxing-jennifer-lozano-rcna161639

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