SANGER, Calif. (KFSN) — At 10 years old, Alyssa Samorano just wanted to box for fun.
Now at 18, she’s trying to earn a Team USA roster spot for LA 2028.
“I’m focused on one thing and one thing only, and that’s boxing,” she said.
But it wasn’t always like that. The first time Alyssa tried boxing, she quit the first day.
“When I first went, I was the only girl,” she said.
She bounced from gym to gym and ring to ring.
That’s when her dad, Albert, stepped in.
“He started training me, like he started from the bottom,” Alyssa said. “He knew nothing. He had no boxing experience or anything like that.”
In a sport made for one, they became a team.
“She basically needed me right there, and I needed her too,” Albert said.
Dad became the coach and their backyard became the gym, until Sanger MMA became home.
“They’re just like family now,” Alyssa said. “Like I said, everyone here at the gym now is all family.”
That new environment was the push she needed, and Alyssa’s favorite pastime turned her into a nine-time champion.
While competitions have taken her all over, Alyssa will enter the ring at the Big Fresno Fair next — a place where she got her start.
“It makes me like emotional because I had my first fight there as a little girl,” she said.
That little girl is now ranked second in the nation, chasing USA nationals in December, with hopes of representing the country and Sanger on a world stage.
“It’s not going to be easy, I’ll tell you that, but I know she has what it takes,” Albert said.
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