Christina Cruz is the first one to admit that becoming a world champion professional boxer had never been her dream.

Growing up in the Hell’s Kitchen section of New York City, she would watch the Olympics on TV every four years, dreaming one day it’d be her chance to stand atop the podium while the national anthem played. After a pair of semifinal exits in the Olympic Trials of 2012 and 2016, Cruz came closest in 2020, finishing as the flyweight alternate for the U.S. team. In one last ditch effort, Cruz was invited to Puerto Rico compete for a spot on their national team and won, beating the defending champion to earn a spot in the Americas continental Olympic qualifying event.

Fate once again intervened when the COVID-19 pandemic led to the cancellation of the Olympic qualifiers, dashing her chances of making the Olympics forever.

There is no straight line in boxing, or life for that matter, she would find. The setback forced her to reevaluate what it was she was chasing. It was the feeling of accomplishment that she had been searching for, and the Olympics wasn’t the only way to find it. That’s when she made up her mind to finally turn professional, in search of another type of podium finish.

“Right away I just had to accept it, because if not I would just drive myself crazy,” said Cruz (6-0), who is managed by Peter Kahn.

“Now the dream is to become world champion. It’s not even about being world champion, it’s about the moment. Moments like this are what we’ve been dreaming about since we were kids, the moments of glory. Whether it’s the Olympics or a world championship, I think it’s all gonna be the same feeling. This is what I’ve been waiting for my whole life.”

Cruz gets the chance to fulfill her new dream this Saturday, when she faces IBF flyweight titleholder Gabriela Fundora (12-0, 5 knockouts) at the Footprint Center in Phoenix, Ariz. The ten-round fight will be part of the Golden Boy Promotions card headlined by Jaime Munguia vs. John Ryder, and will be streamed live on DAZN.

Fundora, 21, of Coachella, Calif. presents stylistic challenge that would be difficult for just about anyone. At 5’9” she is taller than anyone at 112 pounds, and is a southpaw to boot. She showed improved power in her title winning effort last October, when she dropped Arely Mucino twice to win the title by fifth round knockout. She is built like her brother, the impossibly long junior middleweight contender Sebastian Fondura, but makes better use of her height and reach.

To prepare, Cruz has worked in the past weeks and months with tall, southpaw opponents who mimicked Fondura’s style. She says she has fought boxers who are as tall as Fondura during her approximately 200-bout long amateur career, and says she has done well against them in the past.

“She does have a unique style but my sparring partners have been mimicking her style and it’s been going really good for me,” said Cruz, an American amateur boxing legend who earned bronze at the 2012 and 2016 World Championships, and holds the record for most New York Golden Gloves championships with ten.

“I think she’s a good fighter but she does have her flaws and that’s what I’m going to use against her.”

Head trainer Javiel Centeno points out that it isn’t only Cruz who will be dealing with a different style than she’s used to seeing. At 5’5”, Cruz is the tallest opponent that Fondura will have fought, and she is a far less predictable style than she’s used to seeing.

“Will it be Christina’s toughest fight? Actually I think it’s Fundora’s toughest fight,” said Centeno, who trains Cruz out of his Sweatbox Boxing Gym in Davie, Fla.

“I think Fundora is used to having these smaller girls coming after her all the time but Christina is probably her tallest opponent. That’s something different that Fundora is gonna have to deal with. I don’t think that Fundora has fought anybody with Christina’s movement.”

Gabriela Fundora becomes the new IBF flyweight champion with a fifth round stoppage over former multiple time titleholder Arely Mucino, improving her record to 12-0 (5 KOs). pic.twitter.com/hSP3b0obqx

— 𝒟𝒾𝒶𝓇𝒾𝑜𝓈 (@DiariosJournals) October 22, 2023

Centeno, who also trains junior middleweight prospect Xander Zayas and junior lightweight contender Henry Lebron, says he hasn’t tried to change too much of her style in the year-plus that he’s trained Cruz since she turned professional. He says that, while she’ll never be mistaken for Earnie Shavers, she is sitting down better on her punches and turning them over more.

Because she turned pro at 39, Centeno says the plan had been to fast track her through the pros, though he says that had been difficult because other top fighters had turned her down. Centeno cites Cruz’s clean lifestyle as the reason why she can still perform at a level that belies her age of 41.

“Christina has never smoked in her life, she doesn’t drink, she doesn’t do anything like that. All she does is train. Her lifestyle is just boxing. For a 41-year-old to move like her, girls get in there with her and they’re like I can’t believe she’s over 40, or over 30,” said Centeno.

Cruz has an opportunity to make a unique bit of history, should she win. The 19-year, three-month age gap between Cruz and Fundora might be the biggest gap ever where an older challenger took the title from a younger champion, eclipsing the 18-year, 4-month gap that separated George Foreman when he upset Michael Moorer for the heavyweight title. She’d be far from the oldest female champion ever; that distinction is held by Alicia Ashley, who was 48 years old when she won the WBC bantamweight title in 2015.

If life is about making those moments of glory, then a historic title victory would certainly be one of them.

Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at [email protected].