Ana Arrazola
wants a Mercedes : a different kind, though, from the rest of
us; she wants Mercedes García of Veracruz – not for the nice
ornament on her bonnet but for the Mexican Strawweight
Championship belt around her waist.
Mother of
thirteen-year-old Juan Carlos ‘Bronquito’ Contreras (who began
boxing before her) and wife of trainer Juan Carlos ‘Bronco’
Contreras (who works her corner when she fights), Ana ‘ Bronca’
Arrazola already holds two titles : the flyweight title of the
state of Mexico, which she won quickly by submission when María
Eugenia García refused to come out for the second round, and the
WBC International title at strawweight, of which she is the
first holder and for which she had to fight a good deal harder.
Arrazola’s statement that she meant to KO Abigail Ramos when
they contested that title was quoted widely in the build-up to
the fight, though I expect she only made it once.
(Lincoln
only delivered the Gettysburg Address once for that matter.
What’s your point?)
(No idea. Type faster than I
think.) Moving on : Ana began her career as a mother at the
tender age of thirteen and still cannot bear to be separated
from her three kids, even for the brief time it takes to travel
to a venue for the weigh-in, then the fight. “It’s far worse
than the training,” she says. Her trick is to take that pain –
the guilt, the remorse, the heartache… – and translate it into
anger, which she vents on whomsoever stands in front of her in
the ring.
It seems to work. Ana has stopped
ten opponents in thirteen outings, and Ramos, too, who was
“no pushover” (according to Esto), wound up fuera
de combate in the seventh. Only Ibeth Zamora Silva has
walked away from an encounter with Arrozola with her record
unblemished – and even she only bested her on the cards.
Like her son when the two are
sparring, husband ‘Bronco’ puts love aside when it comes to
work : “I let him shout at me in the gymnasium,” says Ana, “but
not in the home.” Contreras Sr. has the same problem as a
trainer on fight night whether it’s Bronca or Bronquito he’s
attempting to guide : “I’m afraid one day I’ll lose it
completely and start spewing drivel,” he confessed to
La Jornada back in July.
Ramon Chaparro has the same problem
with Marcela Acuña : “It’s the most extraordinary sensation,”
he said once, “watching your wife and another woman beating the
(expletive deleted) out of each other only yards from you, when
you can’t lift a finger to help.”
It’s been a while, of course, since
either man can even have wanted to, though all that could change
on 4th December when Acuña (barring a further
postponement) faces Alejandra Oliveras or when Arrazola gets the
shot for which she’s been pressing at Mariana Juárez for the
Mexican Flyweight crown. Unfortunately for Arrazola, three
brilliant displays in the last few months have lifted Mariana
into contention for the world title, so she may have to wait.
García, who was on the wrong end of
a unanimous decision in her last fight (at Junior Flyweight), is
on paper an easier proposition – especially since her handlers
give the impression that they’re protecting her : “Mercedes
will be happy to give Ana her chance,” reads their statement,
“as soon as she’s been declared the official challenger.”
Perhaps there are other contenders
and they’re only being careful to do things by the book, but in
that case the claim of a fighter with a 12(10)-1(0)-0 record
will still be hard to top. Contreras Sr. was in a conciliatory
mood, when he heard the response from Veracruz (“That’s fine,”
he replied. “We’ll wait.”) but confident enough as to the
outcome if and when Mercedes does toe the line: ““She’s a good
fighter,” he concedes, “but Ana can take her.”
