Piper Ramirez first stepped into the ring because of bullies. At just six years old she faced relentless teasing from her classmates and decided she had to fight back.
Her boxing journey started when she was six, when Piper started getting bullied by some of her classmates. She immediately went to her dad about it.
“I told her, I can only do so much,” House of Best Kept Secrets Boxing Club owner and Piper’s father Guillermo Ramirez said. “You are going to blossom into a young lady and I am not going to be able to protect you, so you’re going to have to protect yourself.”
Initially, Guillermo signed her up for Muay Thai and martial arts, not wanting to shelter her. After doing martial arts for a couple of months, she wasn’t growing like she wished and started to get bored, so her dad transitioned her to boxing.
Piper's natural strength in boxing quickly stopped the bullies with her newfound ability to fight them back.
“Kids don’t bother me no more because they know better,” Piper said.
As you walk into the House of Best Kept Secrets Boxing Club, a professional boxer stands out in the boxing ring, not for her bold green shorts, but for how young she is. She has passion that comes out with every punch she makes.
“I started boxing and that is when I really started liking sports,” Piper said.
In the ring, she hears another round starting as water drops on her face. She sketches out the fight ahead in her mind, each hit making her stronger.
She has been boxing since she was six, but has only been competing for two years and is already a national boxing champion in the female 65-pound Pee-Wee division.
Piper is currently ranked second in the nation in the female 70-pound Pee-Wee division after quickly moving up in weight class the past year.
At first, the competition was tough and she experienced a couple of losses in a row.
Piper started practicing six days a week, getting in the gym as soon as it opened and sometimes being one of the last people there.
She said she keeps her eyes on the prize, focused on being the best boxer she can be and enjoying every moment.
Behind her is a graffiti mural of her face on the board, a testament to her accomplishments.
“When you’re a national champ, you get to go on the board,” Guillermo said.
The walls surrounding the ring are covered in vibrant graffiti with characters and two portraits. One of the professional boxers and coach of the gym is Gerald Reed and the other is Piper.
In her coach's eyes, she has a bright future ahead.
“She has good traits — fast hands, quick beats and those two attributes you must have in this sport,” Reed said.
Though Piper competes in a sport that is physically demanding and competitive, she’s also a regular 10-year-old. Outside of boxing, she’s a straight A student who loves to read and sleep in her free time.
She is a bit of a quieter girl, the only time you can truly get her to talk is when she shows you her medals.
“Even if I lose, I still know I have to go in the ring, and I know I am going to do good,” Piper said.
Not only has Piper grown on her own throughout her boxing career, she also has been able to empower other girls to get involved in the male-dominated sport, being one out of a handful of girls at her gym.
“She has definitely motivated a lot of girls in the boxing community,” Guillermo said. “Boxing for women is evolving, it’s still new. With girls like Piper, not only little girls but women to empower them essentially.”
Piper has been able to inspire many girls, one being 13-year-old Emery Lewis, who has been boxing for two years and has been able to look up to Piper’s work ethic.
“I think she inspires all the girls here who want to be competitive,” Lewis said. “She has a great attitude every time she comes in. She likes to work, she likes to get things done.”
Piper mentioned that in most competitions she competes against only a handful of girls because there is such a small number in her division.
While sparring, Piper was paired with an older, stronger guy but for her, it was nothing new. Just because she is a girl doesn’t change the fact that she can beat him.
Piper wants to continue boxing not only because of her love for the sport, but in hopes that one day she can become a professional to earn money to help support her family later in life.
“I want to make money to help my dad retire early and help retire my parents,” Piper said.
Not every 10-year-old is a national boxing champion, but Piper reminds us that she is not any other person. She is a girl who took being teased and bullied for being different, to something that she said has made her powerful.
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