In the boxing world today, the undisputed king is Manny Pacquiao and the queen is also a kababayan, Ana Julaton. Aptly nicknamed “The Hurricane,” Julaton has taken the world by storm and is currently the Women’s World Boxing Organization (WBO) and International Boxing Association (IBA) Super Bantamweight champion.
Ana flew into Los Angeles recently for a grueling training with her coach, Freddie Roach, at the Wild Card Boxing Gym. For the past several months, Ana has been busy preparing for her exciting fight on Friday, February 25, where she is set to defend her WBO super bantamweight title against Mexican contender, Franchesca Alcanter, at the Craneway Pavilion in Point Richmond, California.
In between her hectic twice-a-day training which fills up practically her whole day, Ana spent a couple of hours with Asian Journal a few days ago for an exclusive interview. “I’m really excited about this fight,” said Ana. “I’ve been training so hard. Coach Freddie has been pushing me hard and I’m ready to win.” Ana’s opponent, Alcanter, is bigger, taller, more experienced and with a longer reach but Ana says she will defend her title with “speed and activity.”
Admitting to being a fan of Manny Pacquiao, Ana shared her talks with the boxing legend. “We first met around five years ago. I was in Southern California to join a national boxing tournament. We heard Manny was training at the Wild Card Gym so we decided to watch, hoping to be introduced to him. When Manny’s team learned that I was also a boxer, they took me to their hotel where I was able to see Manny shadowboxing. Wow, he was so fast! I was amazed,” said Ana.
“I asked Manny what advice he can give me as a boxer and all he said was- ‘Don’t get hit.’ Since then, whenever we meet, our usual conversations were mainly about Filipino culture. Like he asked me, ‘why didn’t your mom teach you Tagalog?’ So, he would teach me words and phrases like ‘kamusta ka?’ He also told me to eat with a spoon and fork, like all Filipinos do. So, I’ve learned how to do that.”
Born Luciana Bonifacio Julaton on July 5, 1980 in San Francisco, California, Ana is the daughter of Filipino immigrants Cesario Julaton II and Ahmelia Bonifacio. Her father immigrated in 1963 when he was just 3 years old while her mother Ahmelia, born 1969, came to the US in 1986.
Ana shared that her family has always been a fan of Bruce Lee, starting from her lolo, Cesario I, a former US Army man. In fact, you could say that if not for Bruce Lee, Ana may not be here. “ My dad and mom first met in a movie theatre where a Bruce Lee movie was showing. They have been together ever since,” related Ana.
The boxing queen admitted that she never learned Tagalog because she was raised in an English-speaking home. She explained, “My lolo, Cesario I, who came from a family of farmers in Pangasinan, enlisted in the US Army in Guam when he was a young man. During their time, there was still a lot of racial discrimination. I guess that is why my family decided to raise us up speaking English so we can blend more easily here in the States.” Ana has a younger brother, Cesario III, who is a graduate of Electrical Engineering from UC Berkeley and works with a company that makes video games.
Ana shared that it was a love for boxing and the martial arts that often brought their family together—grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. “Our family often got together to watch boxing shows together with my lolo. Unfortunately, he has already passed away when I started boxing,” said Ana. “ But, when I was younger, I didn’t like boxing. I didn’t want to watch people hurting each other,” she admitted.
Though boxing didn’t appeal to her at first, martial arts did. Her father introduced Ana to Bok-fu when she was 10. “I loved it. I had really good teachers. Bok-fu is a non-flashy form of self-defense. I would even say it’s a discipline. It definitely taught me the attitude that I’ve developed. Bok-fu teaches patience; common sense. Whenever there’s a challenge, some people don’t know how to do it. Bok- fu teaches you how to devise a plan and execute it,” she said in an earlier interview. “As a woman, I never want to see myself in a situation where I can’t defend myself,” she said.
Though her parents tried to push her to go into traditional careers like in medicine or law, Ana admitted that she just wanted to stick to martial arts. “I took up Kinesiology or Human Kinetics because it is related to sports,” Ana told the Asian Journal. She didn’t finish college and decided to pursue martial arts. “I became a teacher of martial arts in Westwind Martial Arts and Boxing School in Berkeley, California. Teaching Bok-fu is one of my life’s dreams. I wanted to be a ‘karate kid.’
While working at Westwind, Julaton was introduced to boxing through a lecture session organized by her now manager, Angelo Reyes. Ana saw how passionate Reyes was about boxing. He wanted to work with athletes who take their craft seriously. Julaton saw his energy and enthusiasm as he broke down the technical aspects of boxing and incorporated it into Bok-fu. That’s when Ana realized that boxing was a skill and she could be good at it. Reyes trained her well and Ana was inspired to make a career out of it.
Ana made her amateur boxing debut in 2004, managing to win a silver in the San Francisco Golden Gloves despite having officially trained for only two weeks.
In 2005, Ana won the following awards: Bronze Medalist, National Golden Gloves; Champion, San 
Francisco Diamond Belt; Best Fight of the Tournament and Quarter-finalist, National PAL Championships; Silver Medalist, San Francisco Golden Gloves; Quarter-finalist, United States Championship; Silver Medalist, Nor Cal Championship; and was ranked No. 6 in the United States Nationwide Rankings. After delivering a good performance at the National Golden Gloves in 2005, Julaton was taken under the wing of two-division world champion Carina Moreno and trainer Rick Noble, further improving her craft.
The following year, in 2006, Ana became Champion of the National Diamond Belt; California State Champion; Champion in the San Francisco Golden Gloves; and Rank No. 5 Quarter-finalist, United States Championship. In 2007, Ana became the Gold Medalist, San Francisco Championship, and Silver Medalist in the United States Championship.
By that time, she was ranked as second among all female amateur boxers in the United States, and took part in the unsuccessful campaign to include women’s boxing in the lineup of events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
At this point, Julaton decided to turn pro, and approached veteran trainer Freddie Roach. Impressing Roach with her work ethic—even sparring against male fighters—Julaton eventually became part of Roach’s large stable of boxers, alongside Filipino boxing legend Manny Pacquiao and former world champion Gerry Peñalosa.
She was about to make her professional debut against Hondi Hernandez as part of the undercard of the Pacquiao-Barrera rematch in October 2007, but her fight was canceled when Hernandez failed to make the weight limit. Julaton instead fought and won against Rita Valentini one month later. This was followed by several other successful fights, culminating in her first title win against Kelsey “The Road Warrior” Jeffries last 12 September 2009 for the vacant International Boxing Association super bantamweight title in women’s boxing.
Then, Ana was trained by Nonito Donaire Sr., father of boxer Nonito Donaire Jr. Julaton then defeated Donna Biggers, becoming the first female World Boxing Organization Super Bantamweight champion on 4 December 2009.
In March 27, 2010, Ana fought against boxer Lisa Brown in Canada for the vacant World Boxing Association title. In that fight, Ana got bad cuts on both her eyelids. Fight officials momentarily stopped the fight and allowed the ring physician to check on gutsy Julaton, who wanted to keep on fighting. Though bloodied and battered, Julaton continued to smile and wave at the appreciative Canadian crowd, and threw more punches that failed to hit their mark. She managed to survive the 10 rounds with Brown, but lost her chance to win the vacant World Boxing Association (WBA) female super bantamweight crown.
“We’ve never seen a boxer so determined to just keep on fighting,” said Angelo Reyes, her manager. “Her cuts required 14 stitches. Like a true Filipino, she never lost heart. She kept fighting to the end. She may have lost the fight, but she won the hearts of the people.”
Ana told Asian Journal, “There were 8 million people watching me fight Lisa Brown from 95 countries. I had two cuts from head butts and I was bleeding so much that the doctor wanted to stop the fight. But I didn’t want to quit. I wanted to finish the fight.”
Ana’s father, who watched the fight on TV, from his vacation in the Philippines, said, “My son (Caesar III) was there at ringside. It was very painful to see her battered and bruised. And if I was at her corner during the fight, I would have asked her trainers to stop the match.”
Julaton shared that her parents had different reactions to the fight. “My father, when he sees me get hurt, [gets] worried and wants the fight to stop. My mom, on the other hand, gets mad when my opponent hurts me and wants me to finish off the opponent,” said Ana.
After a few months, Julaton redeemed herself with a win over Maria Ellena Villalobos from Mexico in Ontario, Canada. Trained by Freddie Roach, Julaton found Mexican Maria Villalobos a tough nut to crack, but came through with telling blows to win the close fight coming out on top of the judges scorecards in a split decision. With the victory, Julaton became the undisputed queen of the 122 lbs. division, having simultaneously holding the IBA and WBO Super Bantamweight championships.
Shortly after that victory, Ana visited her homeland for the first time. The first day she arrived in the Philippines, she got an invitation from no less than the President Benigno S. Aquino III for a courtesy call in Malacañang Palace. President Aquino congratulated “The Hurricane” Julaton who presented to him the Everlast boxing gloves she used in defeating Villalobos.
Her current position makes Ana so aware of her responsibility to be a good role model for Filipinos everywhere, especially the youth. She said, “When I first won a world championship, a group of Filipino-American kids came up to me and asked for an autograph and to have pictures taken with me. It then hit me what a responsibility I was tasked with. To represent my homeland and be a role model to the young people. I know countless parents and kids are watching me so I know I have to be a positive influence. I have to be careful how I conduct myself at all times. I work hard to keep and protect a positive image.”
When asked about her love life, the very private Ana admitted there is hardly time for romance right now. “There is hardly any time for anything else but boxing right now. I am just focused on fighting and winning,” she said.
Admitting that she fell in love before, the slim and beautiful Ana, who looks more like a model than a boxer, said, “Maybe it’s just puppy love. I haven’t yet experienced the kind of love that truly lasts a long, long time.” Her ideal man, according to the champ, is one who is very independent with clear-cut goals in life, respectable, and a romantic.
She’s “good friends” with Miami Heat’s Fil-Am head coach Erik Spoelstra, whom she met after the Heat played the Golden State Warriors in an NBA game in Oakland last year. In Julaton’s personal website (teamjulaton.worldpress.com), Spoelstra called her “not only a great champion but also a gracious champion, a trailblazer in her sport, breaking new ground for women’s boxing, attracting new fans, representing Filipinos all over.” Spoelstra said Julaton is “really inspirational” and he was “fortunate enough to meet her.”
“I’m honored to meet her, she’s a champion I’d read about before, such a gracious person, gracious for the opportunities she’s been given... I root for her,” he added.
Ana told the Asian Journal that Eric’s advice is to “just focus on the fight.”
Regarding Ana’s upcoming fight, her manager said, “Ana’s got the best jab in the business. I can see it ending in the eighth or ninth round with Ana winning by technical knockout. Alcanter will be so beat and cut up by then. On a skill level, Ana’s way up there.”
“The main thing I’ve learned from Freddie—and I’ve learned a lot—is to fight your fight,” said Julaton. “It’s all about how I present myself in the ring. I’ll do the jab, use my speed, go with my footwork, whatever it takes to win. We talk a lot about professional boxing, the perspective of a champion in and out of the ring. If you’re a Freddie fighter, you’ve got to be disciplined. During a fight, I listen to what he says and do what I’m told. Alcanter used to work out with Freddie so he knows what she’s capable of and I’m confident of keeping my title.”
Julaton said her goal is to unify the world superbantamweight championship and lure Lisa Brown into a rematch. “I’d love to meet her again,” said Julaton. “It won’t be about Lisa. It’ll be about me. I wasn’t myself in our first fight. I didn’t do what I was supposed to. I didn’t do what I was capable of doing. But it’ll be different when we fight again.”
Ana said she thought she will retire from boxing at the age of thirty. But, right now, she feels like she is just getting started. Reyes said Julaton has a long way to go in her career. “In women’s boxing, the peak years are when you’re 30 to 40,” he said. “Brown and Velez are 40. Ashley is 43. Acuna is 34 and Nava is 30. Anyone of those superstars would be an attractive opponent for Ana. But right now, we’re focused on Alcanter, nobody else.”
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek feb 23-25, 2011 MDWK pg. 2)
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