God Give Me Strength!

This is the prayer of Adelaida “La Cobra” Ruiz, who took a break of ten years out of Boxing, to devote her life to her three kids, but now she`s back aged thirty-four and has won the WBC Silver and the WBC Interim super-flyweight titles…next stop, challenging Asley Gonzalez for the Absolute Green and Gold Belt.

Adelaida stopped off and sat down in the White Chair at the World Boxing Council`s LA Office for a chat with Pepe Sulaiman and Nancy Alvarez Rodriguez. A natural conversationalist, she fluently switches from English to Spanish and back again, during a fascinating half an hour segment in the Series: The Interview I Never Had.

What sort of dedication does it take to get this far?  Adelaida sets her alarm for 3.30am. She has laid her clothes out the night before and she`s in the gym by 4am to train. But her Dad Juan has been there an hour already, preparing wraps, gloves and everything else, so they can start training. That goes on until 6.45am, then a shower and off to her day job, until 5pm. Her Dad takes her kids to school. Then it`s home for her in time to cook dinner for her three children, and back to the gym for strength and conditioning or some running.

As part of a family of eleven kids, Adelaida`s Dad gloved them up and put head gear on them. She was sparring with brothers and sisters in the back yard and recalls: “Oh I like this! But the less I get punched the better!”

Adelaida who admits to being too entitled with Dad, a Daddy`s girl, but credits him with such fantastic devotion, concedes that it`s an exacting and demanding life, commenting: “Everybody goes through struggles. OK Life, you`ve got me now, but you`re not going to stop me!”

Keeping it in the family!  Adelaida spars with her thirteen-year-old son Jordan, using all of her defensive skills, because like Mum he has natural power…”I think he gets that from me!”

Adelaida appreciates the safety measures the WBC has put in place for Women`s Boxing, including the two minutes rounds and the ten rounds championship bouts. But she herself trains for three minutes per round and over a twelve-round span. With a touch of hankering, she says: “I just wish I had that extra minute. That extra minute is a lot.”

How does she get everything done? “I`ve got to ask God to keep giving me the strength to keep going. It`s all up to God`s timing. My dream is to become a world champion. Your accomplishment in boxing doesn`t come and go. It`s forever!”

Adelaida had the climb the mountain twice! She fought for the WBC Interim super flyweight title against Sonia Osorio. Eight weeks of training…with just one day off! An accidental clash of heads, the fight was stopped in the second round and declared a technical draw. Tears were shed. But then it was time to bounce back! In her next bout Adelaida KO`d Nancy Franco in the ninth to win the vacant WBC Silver Belt and then Sonia…all over again.  She said: “I knew Sonia was going to come tough and we were going to share this ring again!  I felt really strong. I won!”

Now Adelaida has called out Asley, who`s promised to give her the opportunity. It`s not going to be long in coming!