By Robert Coster
Belgica Pena, a young woman and mother, is the CEO of Shuan Boxing Promotion, a boxing company which is considered the most successful in the Dominican Republic.
Belgica, smiling and congenial, opened up to Fightnews.com® to talk about the difficult beginnings of the company, their present roster of boxers and their upcoming plans for the year.
Belgica, when did Shuan Promotion start?
We started in 2010 with one boxer, lightweight Argenis Lopez. We didn’t have a boxing camp or ring at the time.
And where do you stand today?
We have our camp, gym, ring and a roster of 20 boxers, 5 of which are ranked.
And your staff?
Our trainer is Angel (Chicho) Castillo. Our fitness trainer is Rolando Diez of Cuba and our nutritionist is Kelvin Rodriguez.
What is your biggest expense?
Our boxing camp because some of our boxers actually live there.
Being a woman running a boxing company, was it tough to be accepted?
Actually not. My fellow promoters treat me like the colleague that I am. At Shuan everybody is treated with respect and I get respect. We are one big family.
Do you have any female boxers?
Yes, we have one boxer, Lina Tejeda. She’s a warrior.
Your jr Bantamweight Nolberto Jimenez is ranked #1 by the WBA and expected to fight the world champion Yafai from the UK in the coming months. How is that going?
This fight is mandatory for Yafai. We expect it to be a done deal very soon.
Felix Valera, your ex light-heavyweight WBA interim World champion has just been signed up by Top Rank Boxing. What about that?
We are delighted to work with Top Rank. This will really jump start Valera’s career.
You think very highly of unbeaten jr welterweight Alberto Puello ranked 4th by the WBA. Any American connection there?
Yes there is, but right now it’s a deep dark secret (laughs)
How do you define Shuan Boxing Promotion?
We are a small Caribbean boxing company that is expanding. What we are today is the fruit of sacrifice, hard work and love for boxing.