Kicking Down the Door: Sanchez goes for female Muay Thai title on Saturday

Nov 21, 2008 (Albuquerque Journal - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- INTC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Jessica Sanchez is a fulltime mom. She has a fulltime job. And, for the past two years, she's been a fulltime kickboxer.

After her 6 a.m.-3 p.m. work shift at Intel, and after a few hectic hours at home caring for her 8- and 10-year-old sons, you'll find Sanchez at Bill Packer's AKKA Karate USA gym, training for some 2 1/2 hours.

Afterward, it's back to being a mom before a late dinner and a few hours' sleep. Then, the cycle repeats itself.

"It's like (every) 24 hours is completely packed," she says. "It's a full plate."

Saturday, the 30-year-old South Valley native's plate gets a bit more crowded. She's scheduled to face Kayla Oudthone in Springdale, Ark., with a Muay Thai world title at stake.

Muay Thai differs from Western-style kickboxing in that elbows and knees, as well as hands and feet, are legal points of contact.

Sanchez has been training for less than two years. But, says her trainer, she's a quick study.

"New Mexico's never had a female professional world Muay Thai champion," says Fernando Calleros, himself a Muay Thai world champ. "This is history in the making ... that's motivation, that's recognition, and we're excited."

Calleros is seeking recognition not only for Sanchez, but for kickboxing and its place in the New Mexico combatsports heirarchy. He fears that with the rise of mixed martial arts, the legacy of Packer, who died in 2005, is being forgotten.

"I don't dislike MMA, but what I dislike is when people forget where it came from," Calleros says.

Most of Albuquerque's top MMA trainers, he notes, were students of Packer's.

"Greg Jackson came from this school," Calleros says. "Most people don't know that. ... Mike Winkeljohn came from this school; Arlene and Tom Vaughn came from this school. ... So there's a lot of history here, and I want to revive that.

"(Sanchez) is the ticket."

Ca l leros, an El Paso native, lived in Albuquerque between the ages of 12 and 27 and studied under Packer. He then moved back to El Paso, where he competed professionally and promoted kickboxing shows.

He and Sanchez met when the latter, then training at another Albuquerque gym, competed against one of his fighters in El Paso. Calleros' fighter won the bout, but Calleros was impressed with Sanchez's potential -- and she with his expertise as a trainer.

Calleros moved back to A lbuquerque some f ive months ago, partly to train Sanchez and partly to help revive kickboxing here.

Sanchez, meanwhile, had begun kickboxing to revive herself.

"It was about two years ago, and my mother had passed away," she says. "... She was my only parent growing up, so I'd lost a pillar in my life and I had to make a decision what road I was gonna take.

"I could have easily turned to alcohol and drugs and just hit the pity-me road, or find something positive, some type of outlet to get my aggression out."

Sanchez also had a friend who was a fighter and who unintentionally challenged her to take up the sport.

"He pretty much said, 'Fighting's for boys, not girls,'" she says. "I absolutely (took that as a challenge).'"

Saturday, Sanchez will accept the challenge of facing Oudthone, a far more experienced fighter, for the World Wide Muay Thai lightweight championship.

Calleros, meanwhile, has undertaken the challenge of making kickboxing the spectator sport it once was in Albuquerque -- back in 1980s, before MMA.

"It's my first love," he says.

But it's not his last; he and Sanchez are engaged to be married.

BLACK FRIDAY FIGHTS:

Jose Luis Gonzales (12-4-1, 10 knockouts) of Springfield, Mo., now is the listed opponent for New Mexico junior middleweight Joaquin Zamora (16-2-1, 11 KOs) on Nov. 28 at the Santa Ana Star Center. Albuquerque's

Juan Romero, who's co-promoting the day-after-Thanksgiving show with Top Rank, Inc., has seven professonal bouts scheduled.

Romero also plans several amateur bouts before the pros take over.

For purposes of the national telecast on Telefutura, the 10-round Zamora-Gonzales bout is the semi-main event. The main event is a 10-round welterweight bout between Mexico's Jesus Soto-Karass (21-3-3, 15 KOs) and Hicklet Lau (20-17-2, nine KOs) of Miami.

ROMERO GYM : Former world champion Danny Romero opened his new Hideout Boxing Gym this week. He said the spacious new digs at 12th and Candelaria, far bigger than his old location eight blocks to the east, will enable him to work with amateurs as well as professionals.

"This is how I got started, me and my dad (trainer Danny Sr.)," he said. "I'm just trying to give back."

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