14-year-old St. Paul boxer Natalia Young wins gold at USA Boxing Junior Olympics
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Natalia Young’s competition at the championship match was a top-ranked boxer in the featherweight division and one of the faces of the USA Boxing Junior Olympics, featured on banners at the Wichita, Kan., venue last week.
Young, 14, was unknown. She began competing in boxing about a year ago and had only two fights under her belt going into the tournament.
Still, she bested Deandra Santos of New Mexico in all three rounds of their fight.
“I came in with the mindset: ‘I’m about to dominate,’” Young said in an interview with MPR News.
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The St. Paul boxer won the gold medal at the USA Boxing Junior Olympics by unanimous decision. Throughout her three matches, she lost only a single round — her first.
Young said other boxers had far more experience than her, but she hadn’t been intimidated.
“I knew that if I really tried my hardest and I left it all in the ring, they couldn't beat me,” she said.
Young trains under her father’s wing at the small gym where she grew up watching him train as an amateur boxer, SIR Boxing Club on St. Paul’s East Side.
She started sparring with her dad for fun when she was just a toddler and soon grew more serious about the sport, but he wouldn’t let her compete until last year when they moved back to Minnesota. He was worried about her safety — and how she’d handle the stage — until she won another major competition in Florida.
“She stopped the girl in the first round. It was beautiful to watch,” Thomas Young said.
Natalia Young is now 6-0 in ranked fights.
The rising freshman will attend Highland Park Senior High School in the fall and plans to compete at the USA Boxing National Championships in December.
In the brief respite from training after her gold medal win, she’s enjoying her favorite fast foods and the survival reality show “Outlast” on Netflix.
Young’s other coach, Cerresso Fort, a former professional boxer and founder of SIR Boxing Club, said several other Minnesota youth also won medals at the Junior Olympics, including some from his gym.
Her proud father listed them along boxing legends from the Midwest, including Floyd Mayweather Jr. of Michigan and Terence Crawford of Nebraska.
“Now, Minnesota is producing some of the top talent,” Thomas Young said. “You’re going to see our name on the map for sure.”
