A boxing champion’s road to victory

As he steps into the ring, senior Paolo Barredo looks around at the bright lights shining down on him as the crowds around him cheer. Everything he’s worked towards for the last 10 years of his life has been leading up to this moment—a moment where he could either win or lose everything he had worked for.

Barredo carefully adjusts his boxing strategies for each opponent, maintaining a calm and composed mindset during the games. Despite competing in an older division and being ranked last place at the 2021 National Junior Olympics tournament, he persevered through the matches. Slowly, Barredo climbed up the ranks, fighting five days in a row throughout the tournament, eventually beating the first-ranked and second-ranked youth boxers in the country. 

Currently, Barredo trains six to seven hours a day for boxing. He typically does five rounds of shadow boxing, five rounds of jump rope, five rounds on the speed bag and 15 rounds on the punching bag at Raincross Boxing Academy in Riverside County. Barredo also runs four to five miles in addition to strength and conditioning on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Despite these time-consuming practices, Barredo enjoys boxing and remains devoted to it.

“He’s so passionate and motivated to do boxing and [making it] an actual career for [himself],” senior Rachael Monroy, a friend of Barredo’s, said. “Everybody sees him [as] a super nice [and] shy kid. But in the ring, he’s super outgoing [and] loud. You can tell how happy [he is] and how much he loves the sport.”

Barredo has been boxing for 13 years and amateur boxing for eight years, fighting in over 106 fights during his journey. In this period, the sport influenced his personality and outlook on life.  

“He’s always been pretty quiet, but boxing [has made him] more confident in himself. He’s pretty humble about how he is and about how he goes about it,” senior Ronnie Ramirez said. “Because of boxing, he’s not too scared in the real world.”

After winning the 2021 National Junior Olympics, Barredo went on to become the champion of the 2023 National Junior Olympics Summer Festival through dedication and the unwavering support from his family. Although both achievements are important milestones in his boxing career, Barredo wants to continue improving his performances in fights. 

“[The 2021 National Junior Olympics tournament] was my first big accomplishment in boxing. Because I had my family there [to congratulate] me, I was really happy. It was the best feeling in the world,” Barredo said proudly. “Currently, I’m working on building my record up to get a big fight in the future. I want to be at 5-0 by next September.”

Initially, Barredo’s dad allowed him to pursue boxing to stay in shape and learn self-defense. But for Barredo, boxing was never just a hobby, it was his dream. His favorite things about boxing are getting to eat after a match, receiving support from people and the feeling of getting his hand raised after a win. His least favorite thing is making weight, which is losing weight to participate in matches.

“Making weight sucks because you can’t eat [anything] and you have to stay disciplined. [But] after you win, you get to eat whatever you want,” Barredo said. “All the love and support you get from the people motivates me a lot.”

Barredo was born with cavernous malformation, a condition in which an irregular blood vessel is formed in the brain or spinal cord. After finding out about it for the first time two years ago, he underwent brain surgery that resulted in his temporary inability to box. At the time, doctors told Barredo he may never box again as he had to relearn how to walk and execute various movements. 

“I had to be really patient. I couldn’t just go to sleep and wake up the next day and expect everything to be fine,” Barredo said, recounting the event. “I learned to be disciplined and to fight my temptations.”

After the surgery, Barredo was prohibited from physical contact until February of 2023. After a long and tedious journey where he had to stop boxing for eight months, Barredo could finally relearn how to fight again. Against all odds, Barredo came back stronger than ever. His perseverance for the sport was rewarded when he had his first fight as a professional boxer at the Pacific Palms Resort in the City of Industry one month ago. 

“Leading up to my [professional] debut I was very excited and wasn’t nervous at all. I worked too hard to be nervous or scared. [Boxing] has been my dream since I was a child,” Barredo said. “My family supported me a lot. None of it would be possible without them, especially my dad who sacrificed so much for me.”

Despite facing more barriers in boxing from an appendicitis in 2016 and a broken foot in 2023 that stopped him from boxing for a total of a year, Barredo hopes to become a world champion in boxing and help his parents retire in the future. In the meantime, the life lessons and challenges he experienced in boxing continue to shape him as an individual and affect his interactions with others.

“[Boxing] matured me faster than the normal [person] because I was surrounded by a lot of older kids when I was young,” Barredo said. “I’m proud of myself. I’ve come really far, but this is just the beginning.”