Junior Emelia Michael is not just your average teenage girl. In September 2015, she started boxing.

At first, Michael wanted to get in shape, but didn’t know how successful she was going to be in softball, so she decided to start boxing.  Her uncle who received “Golden Gloves”, an award from an amateur boxing championship, began to take her to MMA gyms to train.

Michael trains six days a week at Grand Avenue boxing gym.  Michael works out a lot, “I leave my house at 3 pm and then I run two miles and I get to my gym at like 4 pm,” she said.  Two days a week, she trains with professional female boxer Britney Sanders in Salem.

She loves to box and spar with other guys because they don’t take it easy on her. Her worst injury she’s ever gotten from boxing is her lip splitting and bruising on her ribs.

Michael has no problems with being judged for being a female boxer. “I don’t really get problems from people about being a female boxer. And if I did, it’d make me want to work harder. Being the only female boxer at my gym, I put pressure on myself to work on than the guys,” she said.

Michael’s goal is to become a professional fighter, but for right now she is going to focus on training.