Susan Morée
Las Cruces Bulletin
Lupe Lozoya, 67, will be inducted into the New Mexico Boxing Hall of Fame on September 27 in Roswell.
Lozoya, who coaches boxing at Cross Town Boxing Gym, was the New Mexico Golden Light Heavyweight Boxing Champion for four years in a row, from 1978-1981.
Lozoya got his start as a boxer when he broke up a bar fight in Hobbs in 1977. He was fresh from a stint in the U.S. Army and said a boxing coach happened to be in the club that night and saw Lozoya knock out the two men.
“I didn’t know anything about boxing. A coach pulled me aside and said, ‘I’ve got to tell you something. You’ve got some skills,’” Lozoya said.
Lozoya said the boxing coach told him that what he had done was “great.” So he went to the gym after that and found that he loved boxing. That was in 1977. Within a year, Lozoya became a champion.
Lozoya attributes his boxing success, in part, to an uncle, Pedro Hernandez, who got Lozoya to run and compete as a runner during his youth.
“He’s the one that put that into my head. You need to build your stamina so you can keep going. So when you’re tired, you don’t quit. Walk if you need to walk but don’t quit,” Lozoya said.
Lozoya said that after his four years of championship boxing, he got married and found a demanding job and didn’t have as much time to devote to the sport. Now retired, he recently found his way into coaching boxing to youth.
Lozoya said that what he tells the young people he works with now is “keep going, don’t give up.
“If you’re going to be in boxing, you’ve got to get it done. If not, you’re going to be done,” he said.
Lozoya said he is happy to coach young people and called it “giving back.”