Jennah Creason ‘24, a professional boxer, talks about how her experience changed her life and highlights the value of boxing for both mental and physical health, balancing school and overcoming obstacles, and how it has come to her first professional boxing match on April 27th in Fresno.
By: Ruby Sandoval
Jennah Creason ‘24 is a senior here at Redwood and has now begun her journey on the professional career as a boxer. Through her journey she has faced various challenges like mental and physical health.
Growing up in the boxing community there are those who you look up to both professionals and those close to you. Creason says, “I started boxing because I have older siblings in that box. My brother is in boxing, wrestling and karate and I was getting into the whole MMA aspect, because of Rhonda Rousey, and seeing that woman can fight on that big level and so I decided when an officer that I’ve met at a park mentioned the Powell program I got really excited.”
Many physical attributes go into training for a big fight and overall for the sport of boxing. Creason’s exercise routine includes extremely integrated workouts such as morning runs, gym workouts, and focused drills.
She says, “At the moment, we’re kind of on a professional schedule where we have a couple of different practices a day. We have like a run in the morning usually about 3 miles and then we’ll do about 3 miles on the bike depending on the day we’ll have a morning workout, which would be core training, flexibility, mobility, then we’ll go into boxing practice at about 5.”
It may be quite a difficult act to balance intense workouts with schooling but it all comes down to managing your time skills and keeping focus. To come back from injuries and challenges faster, pay attention to your body’s needs, give yourself enough time to heal, and have a positive mindset.
Creason says, “Yes, I would definitely say I had my biggest injury not too long ago I had a week sleepover at the hospital because I decided to overwork myself and train to the extreme and I was getting rhabdomyolysis which is something that we had a deal with getting ready for this fight and training camp, basically I overworked my arms they swelled up, I lost almost all my muscle mass in them. Which for me, it was a very big deal because I need those and so getting ready for this training camp.”
With starting a professional career there have been many stepping stones to get to her final destination. Creason has learned a lot from traveling to a new place and figuring things out without her regular crew. She says,“Other than me making my pro debut in high school. Definitely I’d say a Germany trip, I was in the team USA all year, which was definitely a new experience for me. It was super fun, I wasn’t a big fan of being away from home for so long and by myself basically, meeting all kinds of new people. Was definitely a growing moment for me, not only in the sport but also as a person.”
Every fight is different from one to another. Jennah is determined to win the competition with her lighter gloves, hoping to score a knockout. She says, “I’m looking to come out with a win. I know with 8 oz gloves. I’m hoping that’ll be a knockout win, just because 8 oz gloves are extremely lighter than what I’ve been training with. I’ve been dropping guys and sparring with 16 oz so I’m hoping with half of that I could do a little bit more damage.”
For Creason taking on her first professional match in her own backyard is something special to her. She says, “It’s been super difficult to have a local fight for me just cause the ones wanted to fight me and so being able to do that and being the Central Valley and all that it’s gonna mean a lot to me.”
For many easons her first fight is special but especially due to the support system that has followed Creason along the journey. Her entire crew is located in the Central Valley and is able to easily support her through a career breakthrough.
She says, “I know a lot of people think I’m super young to be doing this but I’m ready. I spend a lot of time in the gym and spend a lot of time preparing for this. I have the best team. I’m super excited to have that big of a crowd and have but a lot of support systems that I’ve had over the years actually be able to be there.”
“Stick with it. It’s gonna be difficult but anything worth doing. It’s gonna be difficult if boxing is truly something you want to do or if it’s anything else. Always go after it if there’s only people who tell you can’t. You’re gonna have a lot of downfalls. You’re gonna make mistakes, but that’s all part of the learning process and to get better at something, you just gotta be persistent and put in the time and have a good work ethic. “
Jennah Creason ’24
Ruby Sandoval
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