Marlen Esparza Loses at Olympic Trials

MEMPHIS, Tenn.–It’s Thursday morning and we’re deep into the women’s boxing Olympic Trials in Memphis. Half of the 24 women competitors have gone home, and Sue Jaye Johnson has finally arrived, bearing ziplock bags of granola and kale.

Last night, Claressa Shields (165 lbs), Mikaela Mayer (132 lbs), and Virginia Fuchs (112 lbs) all won their winners bracket finals. The last result was a stunner, sending the reigning world champion and London bronze medalist Marlen Esparza into the dreaded challengers’ bracket.

Marlen’s last loss domestically was back in March 2011, when Christina Cruz decisioned her to qualify for the Pan American Games. Since then, Marlen has had the flyweight division in a stranglehold, on her own merits but certainly aided by her commercial value to USA Boxing, whose men’s funding was recently discontinued by the USOC.

At times, the telegenic boxer-puncher seems more CEO than athlete. She counts Nike, Coca-Cola, McDonalds, CoverGirl, and Deloitte among her sponsors. She’s posed in an evening gown for Vogue and naked for ESPN, and she’s up for grabs as a motivational speaker.

The fact that she has continued to improve as a ring technician despite all these shenanigans speaks to her obsessive perfectionism. Back when she took bronze in London, she seemed stuck between two styles: the aggressive infighting she’d been weaned on in Houston and the points-based style favored in international competition.

Teddy Atlas, in his commentary for NBC, noted with disapproval how she bounced from foot to foot, preventing her from sitting down to punch. She was small for a flyweight and had trouble against strong, tall women like China’s Ren Cancan, who outclassed her twice in 2012.

Marlen avenged the losses last spring in the USA-China dual meet. The new 10-point scoring system favored her Texican roots, and she had finally figured out how to get inside, get off, and get out.

But other women were figuring things out, too. Christina Cruz and Virginia Fuchs, the top contenders from the 2012 Olympic Trials, decided to stick around in the amateur ranks and keep rattling the cage.

Tina moved from Hell’s Kitchen to the Olympic Training Center, where she trained at altitude and cleaned up her diet. Ginny hired her own publicist and found a long jumping star to get her strong.

At times I wondered why they even bothered. I had seen both women box Marlen multiple times in fights that seemed too close to call. Every time the cards came back, the judges gave Marlen every round.

Disappointment is part of this game, but there’s a limit to everything. How could
Tina and Ginny keep signing up for these tournaments, thinking they would win? I couldn’t decide if it was brave or just delusional.

The whiff of change came from the north, and it smelled like… poutine.

Ah Canada, land of Drake and Margaret Atwood and the dreadfully short pour. Canada, where vegan feminists can get jobs as boxing writers and women’s tournaments have a gloved beaver mascot. Canada, where a gracious flyweight named Mandy Bujold allowed a few penniless boxing writers to crash in her clean, well lighted place that had affirmations taped to the walls about becoming the next Pan Am champion. Affirmations that seemed to me as futile as Ginny and Tina’s continued quest for Olympic gold, because didn’t they know that Esparza got all the decisions?

After Marlen dropped a split decision to Mandy, she bitched about the judging to ESPN and went on record as not liking Canadians.

It’s moments like this that make it all worthwhile.

There’s not enough money in women’s boxing for the athletes to be media trained into sunny vacuity a la GGG. None of them speak in the third person. They never thank Al Haymon or HBO and they only occasionally mention Jesus.

This makes them easy to love. Who could resist Ginny Fuchs, euphoric over her upset victory, begging her strength coach to let her eat one more tablespoon of peanut butter? (He said no.) Or Tina Cruz lifting up her shirt to show me her six pack. Or Claressa Shields describing her adventure leading a duck parade.

Or Alex Love’s Facebook post after losing to Tina: “I fell short at the Olympic Trials last night, so my Olympic journey has ended. Thank you so much for the support and kind words throughout these years. Our dreams never truly end, they merely transform into better dreams that lie ahead.”

And when Tiara Brown talks about Jesus, I actually listen.

Savvy readers will note that the group photo above of all 24 competitors at the draw actually only has 23 women in it, because Marlen Esparza was skulking in the back of the room. (I learned last week that “skulk” is the collective noun for foxes.)

Her unprecedented financial success has set her apart from her peers, and it intensifies the pressure to succeed to retain endorsements. But I suspect that the pressure Marlen puts on herself is even greater.

“The losers bracket is a nightmare,” Coach Al Mitchell said. “You don’t want to end up there.”

Marlen fights again on Friday, mostly likely against Christina Cruz. She will now have to win three bouts in a row to go to the Olympics.