Costa Rican professional boxing champion Hanna Gabriels is clearly a lover as well as a fighter. Gabriels, 40, shared adorable pictures of herself wearing an orange bikini while cuddling four little French Bulldog puppies outside, against a background of lush greenery. “4 months of 4 babies❤️,” she captioned the post. “Adorable!” a fan commented. Gabriels has wanted to be a champion since she was very young—here’s how she’s achieved those goals.
1. Boxing For Weight Loss
Gabriels started boxing as a method of weight loss. “Since I was a little kid, I dreamed about becoming an elite athlete,” she says. “I wanted to be a world champion or Olympic champion. I was actually in track-and-field, and the main reason why I got into boxing was to lose weight but then boxing opened the door to my childhood dream. My dad and mom were very inclined in teaching us to be disciplined, to have structure in our lives, and they taught us that we can achieve anything that we want just by becoming a better version of ourselves. I have six siblings and many nephews and nieces. Overall I have an amazing family!”
2. Giving Back To the Community
Gabriels makes time in her schedule to contribute to her community. “I’m a 24/7 kind of girl. I do boxing full-time but I am also committed to teaching boxing to the community, so I do that in the morning after dropping my daughter in school,” she says. “Then I teach classes. I’m also a mom and a wife 24/7. I teach again in the evening and, at night, I go to school to become a physical therapist and the only way I’m able to do all this is by being very organized and relying on my support system, which is my beautiful family.”
3. She’s a Foodie
Gabriels loves food and doesn’t diet when she’s not training. “I eat everything, lol, I love food and love cooking,” she says. With all the delicious stuff, two or three months before a fight, I do a very rigorous plan, but after that, I make sure I enjoy everything I can possibly enjoy. Life is too short to eat boiled chicken forever, you know?”
4. Gracious In Defeat
Gabriels is gracious in defeat when it comes to her competitors. “I think boxing is a sport of appreciation, it really depends on what skills you put more value on,” she says of a 2018 fight with Claressa Shields. “I believe It was so close it could've gone either way, even a tie but of course, there is an agenda, but what really bothers me were the score cards, if you watch Hammers fight, cards were better, but she did not fight a better fight than I did. Hopefully the rematch will happen this year in my division, (I went up to hers for that one) and that fight will be a no-doubter, I will make sure.”
5. Challenges of Championship
Gabriels is determined to show the importance of women’s sports. “It is indeed very difficult to get fights, since, in this sport, we are not appreciated as male fighters,” she says. “Since boxing culture is not big in my country, sponsors don’t jump in and they want to get in with no money in a world-class event. It is hard to be a female world champ, since money is tight and difficult to move around. The support is not the ideal but I’m so committed and being a world champ is not just raising your hands after you win; it’s an opportunity to become an inspiration. You show people you do whatever it is you have to do to make it happen and show them they can do it too.”
