Nesthy Petecio still remembers her first boxing match. At age 11, she drew in a crowd at her hometown when she won against a man much older and taller than her in a local competition against fighters from other barangays. “There were a lot of sporting events happening that day: sepak takraw, volleyball.
.. But when they announced that the next match would feature a boy against a girl, the audience went straight to the boxing ring.
So, that made me excited,” she shares in Filipino. She reveals the results of the match in her own words: “Well, he wasn’t completely knocked out—but he definitely felt my punches.” Ever since, she has been up against opponents taller and larger than her.
The secret to win, she says, is to keep her cool. After two decades fighting in the ring, she’s gained the wisdom to know when to dodge and the guts to punch straight through an opportunity. And that philosophy bleeds into her personal life, too.
As a vocal member of the LGBTQ community and an athlete with much expectation on her shoulders, she’s weaved through pointed comments at her identity and her performance in the sport. “When I encounter negative comments, I just laugh at it because I know that I’m not treading on anyone’s toes [by being who I am.]” And in her Olympic -qualifying match last March, she maintained her composure in a 4-1 split decision win against her opponent from Turkey.
While the opposing boxer threw the first punches in the first seconds of the openin.