When senior Angelique Archibeque gets into the ring all she can hear is the sound of the people who are trying to help her. All she sees is the moving target before her.

When asked about why she picked boxing out of so many other sports out there she said with a laugh “Because I wasn’t good at any other sport.”

She started boxing when she was in middle school. “I would see my male cousins and I would want to do it too.”

Though boxing is a traditionally male sport she says she enjoys it. She even likes being one of the few girls that go to her gym. “I like fighting the boys. The taller ones go easier on me but the shorter ones they go harder on me.”

For Archibeque, who is in three Advanced Placement classes and one honors class, sometimes balancing school and boxing becomes quite difficult. “When I have a lot of homework I stay home.” She even missed a fight to take for the Scholastic Assessment Test. Her policy of putting school before boxing has paid off for the girl who wishes to attend New York University. With a smile she says, “School has to come first.”

Also on top of her full work load Archibeque is the president of three clubs: AVID, MEChA and CSF. With her schedule it is a wonder how she gets anything done.

But yet even on the faithful nights where school needs to come first, it does not mean boxing is totally forgotten. Before bed on such night she can be found training on her punching bag or shadow boxing.

Archibeque tells her stories of being in the ring with passion. Her worst injury was when she injured her pallet. “I didn’t even notice it until I went back to my corner and I spit out blood.” She said such injuries are usually due to “rookie mistakes.”

One of the best stories to hear Archibeque tell is the one where she fights Jennifer Tate, known from the TV show “Fight Girls.” Being that Tate and Archibeque have two different fighting styles (Archibeque is an orthodox fighter and Tate is a southpaw fighter) and that Tate has been boxing for many years and has the title of women’s lightweight world champion, it is no surprise when she says that Tate “kicked my butt.” But still, training with Jenny has made her improve. “She helped me a lot!”

When talking about the boxing community within Stockton, Archibeque says that there are other gyms and that she could go to, but she likes hers the best. “I used to go to another gym but I stopped going for awhile, and they moved.” Archibeque describes her gym, which is located next to a car repair shop, as less of a gym and more of a community.

Archibeque says, “Boxing isn’t like any other sport,” she said. Unlike other sports there is no set season for boxing so she trains year round. Archibeque says that for boxing you really need to “eat, sleep and breathe it.”