SAN ANTONIO
\n \u2013 While most high school seniors are preparing for Spring Break, prom and crossing the graduation stage, one Southwest High School student is preparing to make his run to join the U.S. boxing team for the 2028 Summer Olympics. <\/p>\n
San Antonio\u2019s Christian Paez is getting his chance. He will leave Sunday to begin training in Colorado. <\/p>\n
Paez recently won the 2025 USA Boxing National Championships in Lubbock as a bantamweight in the youth male division. His success in West Texas, which includes the title of Youth Male Most Outstanding Boxer, has earned him a spot to join the U.S. Youth Selection Team in Colorado Springs. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a selection camp for U.S.A. boxing. Most of the champions from the tournament over here in Lubbock should be going over\u201a\u201d Paez told KSAT 12 Sports last week. \u201cThey\u2019re just trying to see who will make the cut to fight internationally in Bangkok, Thailand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paez, who goes by the nickname \u201cSonic,\u201d has a 34-4-0 record at the national level with 11 knockouts in 133 fights overall.<\/p>\n
Paez said he\u2019s been training out of his father\u2019s gym, Alamo City Boxing Club, for as long as he can remember. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad opened up the gym a little before I was born,\u201d Paez said. \u201cI\u2019ve been in the gym since I was, like, four (years old), and I\u2019ve been here watching and learning. When I turned eight, he put me in my first fight. And, ever since then, I\u2019ve just been training. Trying to build something.\u201d<\/p>\n
Paez will head to Colorado to train for three weeks before flying across the globe to Thailand for his first international tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne week will be to get accumulated and all that, and the following week will be the actual tournament,\u201d Paez said. \u201cIt\u2019s exciting to travel: going to Thailand, going to Bangkok. It sounds really fun. It\u2019s a little nerve-wracking because I\u2019m going to be in a unfamiliar place for a long stretch of time. It will be my first international travel. I won\u2019t even be with my parents. I\u2019ll be with the boxing team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The U.S. Olympic Trails for boxing will be held in December. <\/p>\n