Chasing More Than Gold, 10x National Champion Jesikah Guerra Turns Professional
By Anthony “Stacks” Saldaña
Located 84 miles northeast of Los Angeles, Victorville California is a barren desert town with double the national unemployment rate, a high poverty rate and is currently ranked the 14th most dangerous city in the United States. It’s a town on the edge of the Mojave Desert that isn’t the first thing that pops up in your mind when we think of boxing. In fact, not many know that Victorville is the home of one of the greatest female boxers to come out of the amateurs in a very long time. 10x National Champion and highly decorated Jesikah Guerra. The 19-year old Guerra lives, sleeps, and eats the “Sweet Science” and trains at Elite Boxing under the tutelage of Michael Love.
It was at the tender age of six when Jesikah was first taken to Elite Boxing Gym. “I was excited to learn to box, I loved to watch boxing, my dad was into boxing and I loved watching the “Old Fighters” like Victor Ortiz and Canelo” stated Guerra in a recent interview with this writer. For Jesikah boxing came natural, she had the stance, the discipline and the tenacity. Early on Jesikah sparred with boys and would make them cry, by the time she was 8 years old she was knocking out her competition and Coach Love knew he had something special. “The boys couldn’t handle Jesikah, she threw combos, hit with extraordinary power and just had an unbelievable ring IQ for her age.” Stated coach Love. In December of 2017 Jesikah would win her first of her ten National Championships. Jesikah became part of USA Boxing at 14 and in 2021 she the highlighted her USA Boxing career by winning the gold medal at the Junior Pan American Games in Columbia. As an amateur Jesikah also got world class sparring by going to camp with the likes of the former undisputed welterweight queen Cecilia Braekhus twice, to help prepare her for her world title fights with Jessica McCaskill, and recently Jesikah had the honor of working with the 4x World Champion Cris Cyborg who has won Featherweight gold in StrikeForce, Invicta, UFC and Bellator MMA where she is the current Featherweight World Champion.
Now Jesikah will make the transition to professional boxing and will make her debut August 25th at the “Hanger” located inside of the Orange County Fairgrounds on the So Cal Fight Club Card. “I really feel like it’s the right time to turn pro because women’s boxing is taking off,” Guerra stated when asked about turning pro, and went on to say “It’s great to see female fighters getting the recognition they deserve. I want to be part of that change and I have done everything I wanted to in USA Boxing for the past 11 years, including the last five on its Performance Team, but now it’s time to move on. I have a lot of appreciation for my amateur career as it has prepared me in many ways to be a successful pro. A lot of top athletes in boxing have a strong amateur resume and I think it’s important to your success later on in your career. What I accomplished with USA Boxing by winning 10 national titles something people only can dream about and I appreciate and am very proud of my accomplishments. All of that came with a lot of sacrifices. While all my friends were doing normal things, I was training; when they were hanging out, I was training. I put boxing above everything else in my life and it showed in my performance.”
Jesikah is an inspiration in her community and recently graduated with honors from Mojave River Academy. She truly is a bright star in a desert of darkness, and has aspirations of providing for her family which includes her three sisters and mother Angela. “My short-term goal in the pros is to take it one fight at a time and then be world champion. I want to be a role model for little girls in the sport of boxing and especially the girls in the gym as well as the kids in the High Desert.” Guerra said. “I also want to continue advancing women’s boxing by giving exciting, entertaining fights that everyone will enjoy watching.” When Jesikah enters the ring on August 25th her debut outfit will be made by Styles Make Fights and sponsored by Campeones Legales. For sponsorship information for Jesikah please contact Micheal Love by inbox on IG @eliteboxing_hd
