Illustration by Texas Monthly; Boxers: USA Boxing
When the pandemic started shutting everything down in March 2020, Kayla Gomez, a youth amateur boxer, scrambled to figure out how to continue training. Gomez, a seventeen-year-old from El Paso who competes in the 112-pound flyweight division, was fortunate to be from a boxing family. She’s trained by her mother, who has a deep amateur boxing career of her own, as well as her grandmother, who coaches them both. So, when COVID-19 upended their plans, Gomez and her family adapted. Her mother built a ring in their backyard, set up a gym in the garage that included weights, punching bags, and an agility course, and they got to work.