Monica Lovato: Delivering a one-two punch

Monica Lovato knows how to struggle, fight and win. She's a rising star in the world of women's boxing and won a world championship this year. But it's when the gloves come off that she fights her hardest.

Lovato teaches kids in her native Española how to box, focus their efforts and strive for a goal. She dedicates her free time to steering kids away from drugs and gangs and the traps that often confront kids growing up in Northern New Mexico.

In 2006, Lovato started a boxing program aimed at giving Española's youth a productive way to expend their energy. More than 200 have already participated.

"There's a lot of kids that fight in school, and they like to fight — they enjoy it and it's not that they are having a confrontation," she said. "Boxing really changed my life; it's a huge discipline, and I thought it would be great for Española."

Lovato says boxing provides a way for young people to enhance their sense of self-worth, which many often lack. And she hopes the sport — by its nature violent — can provide a pathway to peace for teens caught up in gangs.

At 29, she plans to get back in the ring soon, having nursed an injured knee. Between work, school, training and her work with kids, she's on the go from 3 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Her efforts have won her national acclaim; she was named a CNN Hero earlier this year and was profiled on the cable network, during which she described her desire to take a broken-down building in Española and transform it into a community center, where she could expand her boxing program to more kids.

But her plans were dashed a few weeks later, when a property owner who offered the use of a building rent-free for 10 years sold the building, leaving Lovato back at square one.

"Maybe some billionaire will see us or hear my story and come build us a building and make it a tax deduction for themselves and get themselves a place in heaven," she said.

But the setback won't halt her work. Lovato is currently working with the Rio Arriba County DWI Program on an anti-gang program in junior high schools. Through the program, kids who have a problem with one another and who might otherwise be suspended from school for fighting would be able to settle their differences in the ring instead of on the streets.

"We're going to let them duke it out for two or three rounds," she said. "We're trying to say, 'Hey, you don't have to go out and jump somebody and get in trouble — if you want to fight, come over here and we'll train you, and you won't get in trouble,' " she said.

The city of Española has warmly accepted Lovato's efforts. Last week, when Lovato found out from some of her students that they wanted to go to a tournament in Phoenix with only three days' notice, she turned to local businesses and the city for support.

"The community has been great in Española. We've had so much response. I told them 20, 50 dollars, anything will make a difference," Lovato said.

Lovato speaks often in area schools, and she's tickled by the admiration she sees in the eyes of the children.

"It's been a great gift to me and a great experience to know I've helped out a lot of these kids, to know I've been able to be there for them."