Still in fighting shape, Kelsey Jeffries trains without a fight
to specifically train for, except for the one she hopes will lead
her down a different career path
HOLLISTER
Kelsey Jeffries said she’s getting used to these long layoffs.
It’s been 21 months since the Hollister boxer has gone toe-to-toe with an opponent in the ring; her majority decision loss to Ana “The Hurricane” Julaton was held in September 2009.
But prior to that, even, “The Road Warrior” went 15 months in between opponents, a far cry from her four-fight year of 2007.
“I’ve got plenty to work on in the ring,” said Jeffries, who uses the off time to better refine her craft. “When it’s my time, it’s my time.”
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Women’s boxing has fallen a bit by the wayside in recent months due to, among many other general reasons, a poor economy, as well as the specific reason of matching an opponent’s experience with that of Jeffries’, who has 52 career fights and a 41-10-1 record to her name.
Not everyone wants to go against a three-time world champion who has been fighting professionally since 1999.
“There’s only like two or three girls who I think have as many fights as I do,” Jeffries said last week, “and I don’t think they fight anymore.”
While retirement is a looming issue for any fighter, for Jeffries, her post-career plans have essentially taken a front seat to her current career, and help explain why the local boxer has gone without a bout for nearly two years.
Quite simply, she’s been studying.
Having recently graduated with honors from Gavilan College with an associates degree in Health Sciences, Jeffries is now a Licensed Vocational Nurse, as well as a professional boxer. She is one year away from becoming a Registered Nurse, too, which, if everything goes to plan, will fill the challenging void when boxing eventually comes to an end for the fighter.
Jeffries is awaiting acceptance into Gavilan’s RN program, which is expected to be announced in July.
“The focus is on her education. She wants to fight and she’s a fighter, but her education is her No. 1 priority,” said Jeffries’ manager, Bruce Anderson. “If something comes up, maybe in the summer when she has more flexibility, then we’ll look into that. But during the school year, forget it.”
And since her fight against Julaton — which was Jeffries’ first defeat in 10 bouts, since January 2006 — the local boxer has been offered roughly three fights, including one that would have been held in Peru during Gavilan’s academic year.
But Anderson said Jeffries, whose offseason training regimen keeps her in fighting shape throughout the year, despite the layoffs, would need at least two weeks of proper training to prepare for a specific opponent; or, in other words, two weeks away from her academics.
“She wants to fight tomorrow,” Anderson said. Jeffries’ extensive workout regime, which includes daily runs, twice-daily trips to the gym to workout and twice-weekly trips to the ring to spar, puts the 35-year-old fighter in a position where a bout on any given day — say tomorrow, for instance — wouldn’t be entirely out of the question.
“But her title fight is for the RN title this next year,” Anderson added. “That’s her life. That’s her future.
“She’ll fight again.”
Jeffries, who formerly held titles with the IFBA, IBA and GBU — she’s never lost a title in the ring — feels she still has several more rounds left in her. She said she wouldn’t mind reaching 50 wins when everything is said and done, and maybe even fighting in Hawaii, where she was raised.
“There are a few championships out there that I still want to steal,” she said.
Jeffries could very well return to the ring some time later this summer, too, although none of the specifics are official yet. As for a rematch with Julaton, the Jeffries’ camp said they’ve tried for another bout with the Daly City fighter, but to no avail.
“I’ll be an RN. I want to be an RN. I think it’s good to help the community and I want to give back. Hollister has been really good to me,” Jeffries said. “But I’m going to box as long as I can. I love fighting.”
Although she’s experiencing the longest layoff of her career — from fighting, at least — Jeffries still balances her training with school, as well as with her work as a volunteer firefighter and her work as a volunteer at Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital.
Just last week, for instance, she completed her IV certification class, which ran daily from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., balancing with it, of course, a 3:30 a.m. trip to the gym.
“I’m focused. I’m dedicated. I want to be the best as a fighter and I want to be the best as a student,” she said. “I don’t take a day off.
“People always say I’m crazy. I guess I am a little bit.”
In the ring, despite the slew of titles, belts and wins she has racked up, as well as the many years she has competed, Jeffries still feels she has something to prove. Anderson doesn’t feel that way, of course.
“It’s not all about the money. It’s about having options,” Anderson said. “I want her to have an identity other than boxing.”
Knowing retirement is approaching, though — “It’s gonna be tough,” she said — Jeffries feels her athletic calling will eventually take a backseat, especially as her second career in nursing begins to blossom.
But right now, still in fighting shape, Jeffries trains without a fight to specifically train for, except for the one she hopes will eventually lead her down a different career path.
“It will come back around again. It’s rolling a little slow right now,” she said of her lengthy layoff. “But it doesn’t discourage me. My eyes are on nursing.”
