'Just the Beginning': RR's Ariana Chavez marks national dominance, kickstarts boxing career

LUBBOCK, Texas — “I wasn't able to keep any food down, and I didn't sleep at all the night before. I was just going on an empty tank.”

That empty tank won Rio Rancho native Ariana Chavez a national championship.

On Dec. 12, Chavez took home the 2025 USA Boxing National Championship title for the youth 165-pound female division, taking the championship bout in a 4-1 decision over California’s Millian Sanchez.

Just 12 days later, it was announced via USA Boxing that Chavez is the No. 1-ranked fighter nationally in her class.

“I started late, so I felt like I had to get into it quickly, and learn very quickly,” Chavez said. “It's just pleasing to me to think that I accomplished all this in just such a short period of time.”

A short period of time, indeed. With her first fight coming just a year and a half ago, Chavez has tallied three wins on the national circuit. After taking first at Golden Gloves Nationals, the 17-year-old followed it up with a victory at the National Open in September before her triumph in Lubbock.

It has been quite the month for the New Mexico fighter, but back in Texas, a dreamlike December had the early makings of potential disaster.

“I had to put on 10 pounds of weight for this fight,” Chavez said. “I walk around at 145 (pounds), chugged a lot of water, made it up to 155, but the girls that I was fighting are realistically 20 pounds heavier than me, so that was a struggle.”

It was an uphill battle in what was Chavez’s biggest event of her career so far, with a trip to the Olympic Training Center on the line.

“I was a lot more nervous for this fight than for any other previous fight,” Chavez said. "If I win this, I get to go to the Olympic Training Center. It was a high-stakes bout.”

This is not Chavez’s first run-in with “punching above her weight.” Her first bout? Trying to beat the norm. 

After a decade of competing in the pool, she walked away to pursue a career on the canvas. But it wasn’t as easy as just dropping the goggles and picking up the gloves.

“I used to be a swimmer. I had done it for 10 or so years, but I've always thought boxing was cool,” Chavez said. “I was a pretty fast swimmer, but I've never really liked the sport, but I thought I needed to stick with it because of how long I've been doing it. But at one point, I couldn't even get in the water. It was some mental stuff, but I couldn't get in the water. So I said, if it's not now, then it's never going to happen.”

After making the switch, Chavez went from the swimmer out of the pool to the fish out of water. She was entering a combat sport where her opponents had years of experience over her, while she started from the very beginning.

“I had to learn a whole new sport,” Chavez said. “I didn't know anything about boxing, either. It was starting straight from scratch, learning something completely new. But since I was coming from swimming, I already had a lot of fitness going into it, and a lot of power and strength.”

Whether it was the athletic carryover from the pool or the newfound passion for the squared circle, Chavez’s odds-defying early success makes her proud to not just represent but to be seen as a boxer. 

“It means a lot to me to be a part of it (the boxing community),” Chavez said. “Representing my gym as a female boxer. They support me and help me achieve my goals, so it means a lot.”

The term “punching above your weight” usually carries a negative connotation, but for Chavez, it may sum up her journey perfectly. The next hill to climb? Representing her country on the biggest stage and taking to the professional circuit.

“I want to go to the Olympics, and from there, I would want to go pro,” Chavez said. “This is, honestly, just the beginning.”