Fresno Boxers Represent City, Country

Isidro Ochoa and his trainer Omar Sanchez do a sort of violent dance in the ring over and over, week after week.
They’ve been doing it together since Isidro was a young boy.

"I like and appreciate the kid as if he was my own nephew, or if I was his godfather or something," Sanchez says. "So it’s not just boxer, trainer relationship. It’s more of a friendship, family thing."

Now, Isidro is a national champion, and once again looking to represent Team USA.
He and his teammates with the Fresno PAL boxing program are training for an important upcoming tournament.

"I’m ready for this tournament," Isidro says. "This is the first time I’ve been this ready for a tournament."

The 18-year-old says he’s also trying to catch up with his studies after initially falling behind.

"I would do homework for like two or three hours, then take a break and go to the gym, then go home and do a little more before I take a shower and go to sleep."

That kind of hard work is expected at Fresno PAL boxing– which is short for police activities league– where officers give kids ways to stay active outside of school.
16-year-old Kylie Hall started boxing a little more than a year ago because she wanted to get faster at soccer.

"And like I did it for three months, and I loved it so much I decided to quit soccer, and start boxing," Kylie says.

Kylie is also a champion, a gold medal winner last weekend at the Junior Olympics in West Virginia.
Before that, she took the silver medal at the World Championships.

"I’m ranked number two in the world," she says. "I lost to a girl from Kazakhstan. I think that’s part of Russia."

Both boxers have their eyes set on the Olympics, and even bigger goals after that.