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