With Their Families Being From Mexico, Boxers Gonzalez, Lozano Are Proud To Represent Both Their Heritage And Team USA In Paris

The contrasts in upbringing between Jajaira Gonzalez and Jennifer Lozano are quite stark.

Gonzalez, 27, was brought up in Glendora, California, a fairly well-to-do city at the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains about 25 miles east of Los Angeles and a three-hour drive to the Mexican border.

Lozano, 21, was born and raised in the U.S.-Mexico border town of Laredo, Texas, a hotbed for immigration that at 95 percent has one of the largest Hispanic populations in America. One of the houses she grew up in is five minutes from the border.

But the two boxers have a tie that binds them: their love for their family history and their Hispanic heritage. While Gonzalez and Lozano will be wearing the red, white and blue of Team USA at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 this summer as first-generation Americans, their hearts will also be representing the green, white and red of Mexico for those who came before them in the search for a better life and equal treatment.

“I love the fact that I’m not only representing the United States, I’m also representing the Latinos,” said Gonzalez, who will be fighting at 60 kg.

Lozano, who fights at 50 kg. and is the first athlete to represent Laredo in any Olympics, has immediate family on both sides of the border and spends time with a grandmother in Nuevo Laredo, just across the Rio Grande that separates the nations. She learned quickly what streets to take and which to avoid in order not to run afoul of the various cartels that are prevalent in Mexico.

Her parents, Ruben Lozano and Yadhira Rodriguez, moved to the U.S. in the mid-1990s to escape the violence as much as they could while still remaining close to other family members.

“They saw a lot of stuff they didn’t want us going through,” said Lozano, who has an older brother and sister. “From their side of the family in Mexico, they just didn’t want us going down the wrong path. They didn’t want us being like our cousins or uncles. They decided to break that cycle and come to the (U.S.) without really knowing anything.”

The Lozano family didn’t escape the chaos of living near the border. Helicopters often buzz in the air above Laredo. People trying to cross the border sometimes sought sanctuary in the Lozano home, Jennifer said, while border patrol would also burst through the door in pursuit of those trying to cross. Family and friends were lost to the cartel violence — which included kidnappings and drive-by shootings — that thankfully never touched her directly.

Lozano’s experiences on both sides of the border made her grow up faster while also helping shape the person she is today.

“Growing up on both sides definitely made me humble and that definitely made me grow up to appreciate what I have, who I have, and to appreciate what I got,” Lozano said. “Especially here in the States because sometimes it’s so easy to take things for granted and just get blind because of the things we have. But in Mexico, in my house over there, my grandma’s house, you gotta kind of survive and find a way to make it out.”

On the other side of the spectrum, about 1,400 miles west in California, Gonzalez had a much different upbringing. Her mom and dad, Sofia and Jose, were born in Guadalajara, located in western Mexico. Jose came to the U.S. in the mid-1980s at about 16 years old.

“I think they were kind of just looking for that American dream that all Hispanics come to the U.S. for,” Gonzalez said. “For their kids and just an easier way of life. I guess they just wanted to give us a better life. My dad came over first and then went back for my mom.”

With Guadalajara being more than 1,500 miles from Glendora, trips to see family in Mexico have been rare for Gonzalez. The last time she traveled there was in 2019. Before that, it was when she was about 4 or 5 years old. On the 2019 trip, she went with her parents and two younger siblings.

“It was a good little experience, very humbling experience because I had a shower with a bucket of water, and then I had to warm up the bucket of water and then get in the shower,” Gonzalez said. “It was definitely a very humbling experience. I came back to the States and I was just so appreciative of the life that my parents were able to create for us.”

It was a difficult trip for Gonzalez to go on because one of her grandmothers had passed away just a year before.

“Once she wasn’t there, it just kind of felt a little weird to me, knowing she wasn’t going to be there,” Gonzalez said. “But regardless of all that, I was very happy that I went.”

Lozano and Gonzalez often talk about what it means to be Hispanic and representing Team USA. They rely on each other for support. Their common talent in boxing has brought them together to represent the two countries that mean everything to them, something they will do in Paris.

“It’s a big honor. It’s an honor because I take it with a lot of pride and I’m very grateful to be able to represent both sides,” Lozano said. “Because with me — and I represent both sides — I represent every kid who’s ever got told no, every little girl, every little boy who is struggling out there who thinks just because of their parents, just because of their past, just because what they’re surrounded by, that’s what they have to be like.

“On the contrary, when they read my story, when they see me representing both sides, up there (doing) things that people would call me crazy for and people who thought this was completely impossible and that I was never gonna make it because I wasn’t built like that or (boxing) just wasn’t for women. They see me doing this and they get inspired.

“I want to inspire so many generations, so many future generations and stuff like that,” she continued. “Just to give them that message that anything is truly possible, no matter where you come from, what your background is, it’s definitely possible to make it out. You have that power to write your own story and create your own path.”