Sports
Boxer Jennifer Lozano driven to inspire Latinas, honor her grandmother at Olympics
Jennifer Lozano carries her nickname “La Traviesa” — “The Mischievous Woman” in English — with pride. Not only does it refer to her aggressive and brave boxing style, but also to what her grandmother called her because of the pranks she used to play when she was a child.
She stuck with the nickname as she began her boxing career as a tribute to her late grandmother and will use it as a member of the U.S. Olympic boxing team this summer in Paris.
“After she passed away, I carried the nickname with a lot of pride, and a lot of honor, because she gave it to me,” Lozano said of her grandmother, Virginia Sanchez Cuevas.
The 21-year-old fighter earned her ticket to Paris 2024 in October by winning the silver medal at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, in the 50-kilogram — or 110-pound — weight class. Lozano, who grew up in Laredo, Texas, is the first female Olympic fighter in any sport from her hometown, which sits near the border with Mexico. She hopes her Olympic qualification will give hope to many people in Laredo and Mexico that big things can be accomplished by people from small places.
U.S. boxer Jennifer Lozano reacts as the referee raises her arm to signal she had won her fight and qualified for the Paris Olympics.
(Dolores Ochoa / Associated Press)
At the end of her Pan American semifinal bout against Canada’s McKenzie Wright, Lozano jumped and cried, knowing she had overcome many of the obstacles and cultural stereotypes she had encountered during her burgeoning boxing career. The win was a reward for this little girl who followed her dreams, even though many called her crazy for becoming a boxer. After hearing the final bell in her fight against Wright, Lozano immediately raised her hand, confident that she had qualified for the Olympics, and pointed to the sky in tribute to her grandmother, who died in 2017.
“It was such a great emotion that to this day I can’t describe. I just thought about the great change it was going to be, not only in the city, but for the future generations of boys and girls who are from Laredo, who have that thought, that mentality that if you are born in Laredo, you die in Laredo,” said Lozano, whose first started boxing to lose weight and little by little realized that she could stand out in tournaments. She tried other sports, such as soccer, basketball and track and field, but nothing excited her as much as boxing.
Under the guidance of Michelle and Eddie Vela, owners and coaches of Boxing Pride gym in Laredo, Lozano has become a rising star in U.S. boxing.
From 2015 to 2019, she was champion of the National Junior Olympics and the National Golden Gloves. She also won the 50 kg at the 2023 Gee Bee International Tournament and gold at the 2022 USA Boxing Elite National Championship and the 2022 USA Boxing International Invitational.
“It’s been a very long road,” said Vela, her coach since age 11, when asked about qualifying for the Olympics. “It was something we worked so hard for, so many years. It gives me chills just thinking about it. It was incredible to see that we finally made it.”
The Boxing Pride gym taught Lozano the basics of pugilism and when she began defeating 16- and 17-year-olds when she was just 11, her trainer realized that “La Traviesa” could do great things. The gym became her home. She would stay for hours to train with Vela, forming a special relationship.
“We only have to give each other one look to know, ‘OK, I know what you’re telling me, I know what you’re thinking.’ We connect so well that a lot of people don’t believe it. And we just always told each other everything. And I trust him a lot,” the left-handed boxer said.
Lozano, the daughter of Rubén Lozano and Yadira Rodríguez, natives of Tamaulipas, Mexico, earned her associate degree in 2021 from LBJ High School’s innovative biotechnology and science academy amid her boxing training.
The hardest blow life dealt Lozano was at the age of 17, when she found her grandmother dead in her home in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico — something that put her in “a hole she felt she could never get out of.”
Her grandmother died in a shooting in her neighborhood, according to the boxer. Members of organized crime were searching for someone and shot at her grandmother’s house, fatally wounding her. Lozano and her mother had not heard from her grandmother for days, so they decided to visit her in Nuevo Laredo. Upon arriving at the house, Lozano broke down a door and found her grandmother’s lifeless body.
Jennifer Lozano, left, stands next her grandmother, Virginia Sánchez Cuevas, who was killed in a shooting in 2017.
(Jennifer Lozano)
“I saw her body there on the floor and she was not in good condition,” Lozano said. “… I don’t know, me and my mom never talked about it, but yes, that’s how it happened.”
After her grandmother’s death, Lozano said she felt a lot of resentment, depression and anxiety. She could not concentrate in school and was angry in the gym.
“I was so angry that I wanted to keep fighting. Out of four rounds we had to go, we ended up going eight or 12 rounds nonstop,” Lozano said. “I had a lot of bitterness, I wasn’t focused or anything and it was very hard to get out of that hole I was in. It was very dark.”
A fight ultimately changed her focus.
In 2019, Lozano lost to Alyssa Mendoza at the USA Women’s Youth National Championships. One punch in particular shook her up.
“I think it was a jab from her opponent that hurt her nose,” Vela said, recalling the painful but important loss. “That’s when she realized that she had to come back, keep working and that was necessary to be in the place we are now.”
“That’s when I started to see things as they are and I got my act together,” said Lozano, who realized after that loss that she couldn’t be depressed.
U.S. boxer Jennifer Lozano holds up her medal after her trumph at the Pan American Games in October 2023.
(Martin Mejia / Associated Press)
Lozano focused on her mental health and thought she had to make a change. She thought of all the people who have gone through difficult times in her city. Most of all, she remembered the words of encouragement her grandmother would give her.
“She would tell me that I was going to do great things. That she loved me very much and that I should never forget her,” said Lozano, who has tattooed in her mind the days when she used to watch Jackie Nava’s fights with her grandmother and the flautas she made for her to eat.
“She told me: ‘You’ll see, mija, you’ll see that you’re going to be great. You keep working hard and working hard and it’s all worth it.’ ”
After her 2019 loss, Lozano notched 11 straight wins in amateur boxing.
“What I learned is that you have to be thankful for who you have in front of you because you never, literally, never know if that’s going to be the last time you see that person,” she said.
USA Boxing also helped her recover mentally, just as it did with Jajaira Gonzalez, a Southern California boxer who also struggled with her mental health before qualifying for Paris 2024.
“Lozano is fantastic. She’s had a difficult history as a child and the things that come with that. She’s been focused, and she’s had good fights,” said USA Boxing’s head coach, Billy Walsh. “She’s stood her ground, she hasn’t let feelings get the best of her. She’s very strong and has fought in the face of the toughest pressure, in the face of the biggest stress.”
Lozano has helped other teammates, especially fellow Olympian Gonzalez, to be mentally strong.
“She’s like my little sister. She pushes me and so like me just like her,” Gonzalez said. “She has a very strong mentality. I would like to be just as strong as her.”
With her Olympic participation, Lozano said she wants to change the stigma that exists for people from South Laredo.
“We have a bad saying that what is from Laredo never progresses. That if you are born in Laredo you die in Laredo,” said Lozano, who also is inspired by her sister Jessica, who moved to San Antonio to continue her education.
“I’m here to not only inspire and motivate, but equally to make a big change, not only in my city, but for all Hispanas, Latinas, Mexicans and all of Latin America. I want to be a global inspiration.”
This article was first published in Spanish via L.A. Times en Español.
Trump says there’s ‘no time frame’ to secure Iran deal
Republican Minnesota Senate candidate Tom Weiler joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S.-Iranian conflict continues and react to Gov. Tim Walz’s, D-Minn., criticism of the president.
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Saudi Arabia was among the countries seeing missiles fly into their airspace as a conflict broke out in the Middle East between the U.S. and Iran.
The prospect of Iran targeting its Middle Eastern neighbors like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates put some sporting events on hold and questioned others. Formula 1 races in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were canceled and rumors swirled around whether future WWE events could be held in the kingdom.
Roman Reigns celebrates his win during WWE’s Royal Rumble at Riyadh Season Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 31, 2026. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
As the Trump administration brokered a ceasefire with Iran, WWE announced on Thursday that its Night of Champions premium live event will be held in Riyadh on June 27.
“We are proud to welcome Night of Champions back to Riyadh and look forward to delivering another unforgettable night of WWE action for fans in the Kingdom and around the world,” General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Al-Sheikh said in a news release.
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Sami Zayn makes his entrance during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
The release touted that WrestleMania 43 will still be held in Riyadh in 2027. It will be the first time that WrestleMania is held outside the U.S.
WWE president Nick Khan was adamant before WrestleMania 42 that the event will still take place in Saudi Arabia despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“We’re doing WrestleMania next year in Saudi,” he said at a Sports Business Journal event, via The Sporting Tribune. “First time ever, WrestleMania will be outside the United States or Canada. And we’ve had a big, fruitful partnership with them.”
John Cena wrestles CM Punk during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
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He added that those complaining about WrestleMania being held in Saudi Arabia were a “vocal minority.”
Thousand-dollar tickets and hundreds of dollars in fees shocked some hopeful Olympic fans this month, but they did not keep LA28 from boasting strong sales in the committee’s first ticket drop.
LA28 announced Thursday that it sold more than 4 million Olympic tickets during the first ticket drop. The private organizing committee will have a second ticket drop in August with “refreshed inventory across all Olympic sports at a range of price points.”
But after the popularity of the first purchasing period, many of the lower-priced tickets have already been scooped up.
LA28 said roughly half of the total 1 million $28 tickets were sold during the locals presale, which was limited to people living near venue cities in Southern California and Oklahoma City.
The average price per Olympic ticket is less than $200, which includes a mandatory 24% service fee, and LA28 said about 75% of all tickets, including final events, will be under $400. The premier seats at high-demand events command more than $1,000 per ticket, but the highest priced categories make up about 5% of the total ticket inventory.
Artistic gymnastics sold out the quickest in Drop 1. Four new Olympic sports — flag football, lacrosse, softball and squash — sold all their available inventory for the first drop. After five days of local presale, global ticket sales opened and drew fans from 85 countries and all 50 states and U.S. territories. The largest international sales came from the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico and Japan.
For the first female-majority Olympic Games, LA28 reported that women’s Olympic sessions outsold men’s 93% to 88% during the first drop.
“The response to our initial on-sale was nothing short of historic. Fans from near and far have spoken: the world wants to be part of the LA28 Games,” LA28 chief executive officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement. “The success of Drop 1 is about more than momentum — it reflects LA28’s commitment to delivering a fiscally responsible Games that create a lasting legacy for Los Angeles and its communities.”
Drop 2, which will begin in August, will have additional tickets across all Olympic sports, including those that may have sold out during the first purchasing windows. The registration period for Drop 2 opened Thursday and will continue until July 22. Fans who registered for the first drop of tickets but did not receive a time slot and fans who did not buy their maximum 12 general ticket allotment will automatically be entered into the random lottery Drop 2. The new registration period is only required for anybody who did not sign up for the initial drop.
Fans are still limited to 12 Olympic tickets and up to 12 soccer tickets that don’t count toward the general maximum. There is a four ticket per ceremony limit for the opening and closing ceremony that count toward the 12-ticket maximum, which is cumulative across all LA28 presales and ticket drops.
LA28 will have multiple ticket drops with assigned purchasing time slots before ticket sales move to a first-come, first-served format closer to the Games, which open on July 14, 2028. LA28 began its ticketing process earlier than most other Olympic Games with tickets going on sale more than two years in advance of the opening ceremony. The early timeline has created excitement for the first Summer Olympics in the United States since Atlanta 1996, but also prompted concerns about scheduling. Fans clamored for tickets with little information about which teams or athletes would be competing in most sessions.
Tickets are not refundable, but fans can opt for verified resale when LA28 launches its official resale system in 2027. AXS and Eventim is the official secondary ticket marketplace of the LA28 Games and Ticketmaster and Sports Illustrated Tickets have also signed on as additional verified resale platforms.
LA28 will have 14 million tickets available for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which would eclipse the record of 12 million tickets sold for the Paris Games. Paris 2024 sold an about 9.5 million tickets for the Olympics, but used a different ticket system than LA28. For Paris, 3.5 million tickets were sold during the first phase, during which fans were required to buy tickets to at least three different sports instead of the option for single-event tickets available during LA28’s Drop 1 process.
Tickets for the 2028 Paralympics, which will be the first in L.A.’s history, will go on sale in 2027. Ticket sales and hospitality are expected to cover about $2.5 billion of LA28’s expected $7.1 billion budget for the first Games in L.A. in more than 40 years.
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An envoy for President Donald Trump has reportedly asked FIFA to replace Iran with Italy in the 2026 World Cup this summer.
The Financial Times reported the plan is an effort to repair the relationship between Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which soured after the former’s comments against Pope Leo XIV regarding the war with Iran.
United States special envoy Paolo Zampolli suggested the idea to FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
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President Donald Trump receives the FIFA Peace Prize from FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 5, 2025. (Emilee Chinn/FIFA)
“I confirm I have suggested to Trump and Infantino that Italy replace Iran at the World Cup. I’m an Italian native, and it would be a dream to see the Azzurri at a U.S.-hosted tournament,” Zampolli told the outlet. “With four titles, they have the pedigree to justify inclusion.”
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment by Fox News Digital.
Italy had a chance to be in the World Cup already, but it lost in a penalty shootout to Bosnia and Herzegovina in a qualifying playoff final.
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Italy became the first World Cup-winning team to miss three consecutive tournaments after the 4-1 penalty shootout loss earlier this month.
“We still don’t believe it that we’re out and that it happened in this manner,” Italy’s Leonardo Spinazzola told reporters at the time, according to the New York Post.
“It’s upsetting for everyone. For us, for our families and for all the kids who have never seen Italy at a World Cup.”
While Zampolli told Infantino about his proposed plan, FIFA’s president said Iran “for sure” will play in the World Cup despite the conflict involving the U.S.
Mehdi Taremi of Iran celebrates after scoring a goal during a 2026 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers Group A game against Uzbekistan at Azadi Stadium in Tehran March 25, 2025. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu)
“The Iranian team is coming, for sure,” Infantino said during the CNBC Invest in America Forum earlier this month in Washington, D.C.
“We hope that, by then, of course, the situation will be a peaceful situation. That would definitely help. But Iran has to come, of course. They represent their people. They have qualified. The players want to play.”
Infantino visited the Iranian national team in Turkey, which is where it has its training camp.
All three of Iran’s group stage games are scheduled to be played in the U.S. That remains the case after Iranian government officials suggested to FIFA that their games be moved to Mexico because they could not travel to the U.S.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum revealed FIFA’s rejection of Iran’s request, and it is insisting Iran play where it’s scheduled — SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, and Lumen Field in Seattle. Iran said earlier this month it would only decide on its team’s participation once it heard from FIFA regarding its relocation request.
Iran is scheduled to play at SoFi Stadium against New Zealand June 16 to begin its tournament. It will also play Belgium at the stadium before finishing group play against Mo Salah and Egypt in Seattle June 26.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino attends an international friendly between Mexico and Portugal at Banorte Stadium in Mexico City March 28, 2026. (Antonio Torres/FIFA/Getty Images)
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Trump wrote in a Truth Social post last month that Iran would be welcome to compete in the World Cup as scheduled, though it might not be “appropriate” considering the conflict.
“The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,” he wrote.
Trump also told Politico, “I really don’t care,” when asked about Iran’s participation in the tournament. Infantino, who has a strong relationship with Trump, said Trump has “reiterated” to him that the U.S. welcomes Iran’s team to compete.
Fox News’ Paulina Dedaj and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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