Ring the bell

     By Todd Dewey
     View staff writer
      She is a kindergarten teacher, first and foremost.
      But Mara Callihan won't be giving a reading lesson Friday.
      Instead, she will try to give her opponent a boxing lesson when she makes her pro debut at the Hard Rock Hotel.
      Callihan, a 26-year-old who teaches at Selma Bartlett Elementary School in Henderson, is billed as "The Educator." She recently earned her Master's Degree in Education at UNLV and will be led into the ring by some of her students.
      Callihan will don a cap and gown for the occasion and will dance her way into her first fight to the sounds of "Pomp and Circumstance" and Alice Cooper's "School's Out."
      Don't get the third-year teacher wrong, though. It's not all about show business for the determined Callihan, who is as serious about boxing as she is about education.
      "I love teaching, but this is like my second career," she said. "I feel very blessed to have this opportunity. I want to use this opportunity to show the importance of schooling.
      "No one ever really believes me, but I'm putting all the things I tell my students into practice. We all want to lounge, but if you want to do your best, you have to put out your best. I'm training my hardest every day."
      Callihan said her students and their parents support her passion for the sport.
      "I told my students and their parents I won't allow this to affect my teaching. Teaching comes first," she said. "And I told them it's a sport. It's not two people beating each other up."
      Callihan, who works out three to five hours per day, has always been involved in sports, but has only been boxing for a year. She and her husband Ryan joined the Academy of Fighting Arts in search of a sport they could both enjoy.
      "I didn't know much about boxing, but I just got into it and fell in love with it," she said. "I didn't know how much form, focus, intensity and thinking was required."
      Callihan said her husband, Ryan, is happy she's has excelled at the sport.
      "He realizes how intense it is to me and how much I love it," she said. "He loves it, too. It's the No. 1 thing we like to do."
      Erick Schulze, Mara's trainer and manager, is surprised his pupil has come so far so fast.
      "I was shocked she came along so fast," he said. "Her and her husband were just interested in doing it for health and fitness, but she showed an awful lot of potential and learned rapidly. She has great boxing skills and a strong desire to be a champion and, from what she's shown, I think she'll do it."
      Callihan, a bantamweight (115-118 pounds), said taking dance classes for 10 years helped her make a smooth transition to the ring.
      "I was able to incorporate things I knew in dancing to boxing," she said. "The good news is I didn't have time to pick up any bad habits."
      Schulze said Callihan has a natural fighting instinct.
      "She's got a real good jab and puts together a good combination as well," he said. "She's light on her feet and has good stamina and endurance."
      While it's unusual to turn pro without any amateur fights, Schulze is confident in Callihan's ability.
      "She's sparred with anybody who's wanted to spar and she's done very well," he said. "She can hold her own with people up to 15 to 20 pounds heavier than herself -- male or female. I think she's gonna do wonderful. We're already planning her second fight.
      "I want to take her as far as she can go. She'd like to be a world champion, and I'd like to see it. I think she can be a champion. She has all the makings of a champion."
      Callihan certainly has the drive it takes to succeed.
      "She managed her time to be a good wife, go to work and teach kids and also go to college and get an education and learn to box at the same time," Schulze said. "It's pretty incredible. It just shows you if people have the desire to do something, they can do it."
      Callihan, who may also pursue a doctorate, hopes to inspire others.
      "As long as you set your mind to it, you can pursue other things," she said. "You can continue to pursue your education."
      Callihan, who describes herself as an aggressive fighter, has a simple game plan for her four-round bout.
      "I'm gonna win," she said. "It's not about the other fighter, it's about me. Like I tell my students, you're responsible for yourself."