Ashleyann Lozada is the first woman to represent Puerto Rico in the Olympics for boxing, and has drawn comparisons to Miguel Cotto, Ivan Calderon, and Felix Trinidad.
Lozado faces Melissa Oddessa Parker in an eight-round junior bantamweight bout on Thursday at Coliseo Pedrin Zorrilla in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The bout will be streamed on DAZN.
“The minute I looked at footage of her, I saw that she was special,” Mark Taffet, Lozado’s manager, told BoxingScene. “She looked like she had been fighting professionally for 10 years.”
Lozado, 2-0, turned professional in February. The 34-year-old from Corozal, Puerto Rico, Lozado, aims to move fast as a professional. Lozado will be fighting for the first time in Puerto Rico, as the historic figure in Puerto Rican amateur boxing looks to leave her mark as a professional.
“She had the footwork of Ivan Calderon and yet the punching ability of Miguel Cotto,” Taffet said. “I thought she could be a star. I took the footage to Dmitriy because no one understands fighters or reads them better than Dmitriy, and within 30 seconds, he said to me, ‘She is going to be a star.’”
“It is an honor to be compared to such a legend,” Lozado said via translator when asked about the comparison. “Miguel Cotto is one of my motivations, because he is my favorite boxer.”
Lozado's roots in boxing are humble and filled with struggles. She is from the rural part of the island. While the gym is often a sanctuary for most, it was a challenge for her to get to the gym.
“My mom didn’t own a car, so if I needed a lift to the gym or ran one hour to the gym,” Lozado said. “It was about a 7-mile run uphill.”
Now, she faces Parker, 6-3-1 (2 KOs), who is coming off a draw to Hannah Noelle Rapp in March. Before that, Parker lost three fights in a row against top-tier opposition. Since 2024, Parker, the 38-year-old from Spring, Texas, has fought frequently in the Team Combat League, staying very active.
“She is a female Miguel Cotto, a female Felix Trinidad,” Dmitriy Salita, her promoter, told BoxingScene. “A star from the island, whose roots are in Puerto Rico.”
