Catching up with a Warrior: Sindy Amador

Southern California has always been home to tough fighters.

From the San Fernando Valley down to the border with Mexico and from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the border against Arizona, with its mix of ethnicities prone to get inside a ring and mix it up for greenbacks, the area has been a hotbed for some of the grittiest warriors the sport has ever seen.

It does not stop with gender and one of the examples of that gritty, come forward, relentless nose-to-the-grindstone attack in female boxing is former IFBA light flyweight champion Sindy “Alacrana” Amador (12-1-1, 1KO) of Riverside, California.

Originally from Durango, Mexico, Amador began boxing once in Southern California and quickly became a favorite of the area because of her no-nonsense style.

In November of 2014 after facing and defeating the likes of Mayela Perez, Carina Moreno and Amaris Quintana to capture the title, Amador was on the verge of the most important fight of her career against one of the biggest names in the sport at the time, multi-time world champion Ava Knight.  Unfortunately an unsuspecting injury changed the course of her life.

“I was getting ready for that fight against Ava Knight and I was ready, I was very excited because I was moving up a division.  I was already at weight; I was at 113 which was my regular weight,” Amador explained in an exclusive interview with the 2-Min Round, the podcast on the Leave It in the Ring network dedicated to female boxing.  “I was two weeks away from the fight.  It was going to be the biggest fight of my life because it was supposed to be televised on ESPN and it was a great challenge for me to face one of the best women in the game I think.  I was ready but two weeks before I started having problems with my vision and they had to take me to the hospital in an emergency.  They had to do surgery immediately.  That is when they told me I wasn’t able to fight anymore.  I was lucky because they were able to save my eye.”

Despite the news, Amador has accepted her lot in life and says she is grateful for what boxing meant in her life.  “I am happy now.  That is how life is.  It was a hard process but life goes on and you have to take everything as it comes. Now I feel blessed I had the chance to do what I did and I am happy with it.”

Amador had great battles including her  2013 war with the always tough Jolene Blackshear considered the “best female fight of the year” along with her two fights close fights against Amaris Quintana.  Despite that, Amador has a tough time pinpointing which fight has given her the most satisfaction.

“It is hard to tell because to me every single fight was the only one and it was the best.  You never know, I never underestimated any of my opponents,” Amador said.  “Every fight was to me the best.  I always was dedicated, every fight has something.  Every single fight, my first fight because it was my debut, my second fight because it was something different against somebody that was way more experienced than I against Katarina De La Cruz.  She came in way too over in the weight, I was under the weight and she came over so we had to fight before the fight happened because they wanted to cancel the fight.  I had so many people come to see me.  I am glad that happened and I am glad I beat her. That fight was amazing because it was the fist fight I had with my trainer, Ruben Casteñon.  I started my career with Juan West and they were supposed to be a team, Juan West and Ruben Casteñon.  For my second fight Juan West decided to leave me and I moved on with Ruben Casteñon.  I remember we fought at the Pechanga (Resort and Casino) and he told me that he would make me a world champion in three years and three years later I fought Amaris Quintana at the same place for the world title and I became a world champion.  I just remembered that and it was magic, it was amazing.”

Amador has stayed as part of the sport.  Along with continuing to work out in the gym, Amador is also a staple at any boxing event in the area as well as staying active in her gym.

“I do boxing on special occasion, when people want me to train, I do personal one-on-one classes at the gym I used to train, Capital Punishment in Riverside,” Sindy explained.  “I still work out to stay in shape, obviously not like before, but I like to work out.  I still support my gym, we have fund-raisers because they are trying to close the ring and I will be attending along with some champions, some former champions and supporting my manager because he is the owner of the gym and supporting the fighters.”

Along with that work, Amador has taken a new role as a special expert writer for all-female boxing website ThePrizefighters.com.  Surprisingly she is not shy in expressing her honest opinion regarding the boxing world in this new facet, including the recent Marlen Esparza vs Rachel Sazoff ESPN televised four round bout where the former Olympian made her much anticipated professional debut under the Golden Boy Promotions banner.

“I was disappointed because Marlen, she is a great fighter and she has an amazing career.  I think we were expecting a better fight, a better opponent.  The opponent she had was not enough to be in a fight like that in my opinion.  It is sad because we were expecting a better opponent for Marlen.  I was just disappointed.”

“I think Claressa (Shields) has like everything to be one of the best,” Amador continued about the new crop of fighters.  “Her experience and her weight division that she is at, I think she has all the potential to do something amazing in her boxing career.”

To listen to the whole interview in its completion, please visit www. BlogTalkRadio.com/leaveitinthering