She's in the ring

Christina Kwan to make professional debut Saturday

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She sticks out like a sore thumb. At first glance, in a room full of tall and muscular boxers, the 5-foot-3-inch Christina Kwan looks like someone who accidentally stumbled into the wrong place.

But after watching her spar with former World Boxing Organization (WBO) world junior welterweight champion DeMarcus "Chop Chop" Corley at the Top Rank Gym, 3041 Business Lane, in preparation for her professional boxing debut, it's quite evident this pugilist is intent on leaving her mark as well as making a name for herself in the sport.

The 25-year-old Kwan -- a distant cousin of figure skater Michelle Kwan -- begins her quest to become the next big thing in women's boxing on Saturday when she faces Jennifer Trzicky (0-1) in her professional debut at the Thomas & Mack Center in the junior strawweight weight class (102 pounds) on the undercard of the Diego Corrales-Jose Luis Castillo III fight.

Kwan, a resident of Centennial Hills who recently signed with Bob Arum's Top Rank promotions, went an impressive 23-1 in her career as an amateur and was the U.S. national and world champion at 95 pounds.

While her dreams of winning a gold medal in the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008 were dashed when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) made a decision not to introduce the female sport in the upcoming games, several recent developments and strong local support have kept Kwan and her camp thinking big.

"Christina met Bob Arum three years ago and he loved her when she was still on the amateur side," said Vinny Perozzi, Kwan's longtime trainer. "And she told him, 'I'm going to win the national title.' And she did. And then the world, and she did.

"When we found out there would be no Olympics, on her birthday on Oct. 28 this past year, we figured that was it. And we didn't know what to do.

"And then we thought about it. I know Mitch Hampp, who runs Top Rank Gym, very well, and I went over there and talked to him and Arum had just released a big article (he was quoted by the media) about how if it came down to the United States and China, how he would be rooting for China over the United States because of pay-per-view sales.

"So we thought about it and I knew because of her academics, (there was) nobody bringing all of this stuff to the ring for marketability. And I said, 'If (professional golfer) Michelle Wie can get $50 million and she doesn't speak Chinese, if they put you (Christina) on that platform, it's insurmountable what could happen.' "

Kwan's career outside the ring has an equally bright future.

Perozzi said the meeting with Arum eventually led to Kwan getting a phone call from Steve Wynn, who offered her a job at Wynn Las Vegas.

"So Mitch gave her portfolio to Bob, Bob gave it to Marc Shore, Wynn's chief operating officer, and he then requested a meeting with us Jan. 3. And the day before we went in, Wynn calls us and we're thinking it's just a reminder (for their meeting) at 7 o'clock at night and ... it was Steve Wynn on the phone. She (Kwan) didn't know what to say.

"And they didn't know what to do with her right away but after so many interviews they made her head executive of marketing for the Far East, Hong Kong and Vancouver (Canada), where she was born. And they put her in there and she's done a wonderful job."

So after landing the job at Wynn Las Vegas and making a little bit of history in being the first female boxer to sign with Top Rank, Kwan said she and her camp are now focusing on international exposure in the sport.

"I see myself not as being signed as a woman fighter, I see myself signed as a Chinese fighter," Kwan said. "It wasn't about Bob or anything thinking 'I could have my first woman fighter.' It was about tapping into that Chinese market."

With Wynn set to open his new hotel-casino resort in Macau this fall, Kwan and her camp are looking to maximize the fighter's marketability in the billion-strong nation where her parents, George and Anne, were born in Canton, China.

"The thing for her that we've been saying all along is that she brings to the table a whole new segment of people to be able to watch," Perozzi said. "It's kind of like what happened with (professional basketball player) Yao Ming. How many Chinese were at an NBA game before Yao was there? They didn't come because there was no one to come for."

Although her dream of becoming one of the first women to win a gold medal in boxing has now evaporated, Kwan is making the most out of these new opportunities.

"It works two-fold because the first thing that we thought was that all the big sponsorship is going to be out because we can't make history and be the first to win (a gold medal) in my parent's home country.

"But now, at the same time, I'm not bound by any restrictions for endorsement deals," Kwan said.

"It kind of worked out good. I see myself as a free agent now because I'm not bound by amateur restrictions."

Although the IOC is still mulling the idea of having women's boxing in the 2012 Olympics in London, Kwan said she couldn't wait around any longer.

"They keep saying London, but it's a different market for me. It's not going to work out," Kwan said. "And I couldn't wait around for another four years."

Kwan graduated with honors from UNLV with a bachelor's degree in marketing and is working on her master's degree, accomplishments which have lead to her nickname of "School Girl." She's also a member of the Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society and the Golden Key National Honor Society.

"Education is always the No. 1 thing to me," said Kwan, who is fluent in both English and Chinese.

Preparing for her professional debut while holding down her new job at Wynn hasn't been easy.

She hits the gym from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily for sparring and a workout, rests from 2 to 6 p.m. and then goes to work until 2 a.m.

Before calling it a night, Kwan heads to a health club from 2 to 4 a.m. for two hours of running before getting some much-needed sleep from 4 to 11 a.m.

Then she gets up and does it all over again.

With so much at stake, Kwan has been sparring exclusively with male boxers in preparation for her pro debut.

Getting information on Trzicky -- her 33-year-old opponent who hails from St. Joseph, Mo., and lost her professional debut in a second round knockout to Sandra Ortiz last September -- is fairly hard.

"There really isn't a lot of film on her to study," Kwan said. "I know she was a kickboxer. But I feel if I'm at my best, I shouldn't have to worry about anybody else."

Kwan quickly dismissed the thought of losing in her debut Saturday night.

"To me losing is not even an option," she said. "That's really how you have to look at it. I think when you step into the ring, if you think for one second that you could (lose), you will.

"But if you have that mental mindset that I've been sparring with men, I've been sparring people bigger than me, I've been hit way harder than a girl my size of equivalent weight will hit me, I believe I can't get hurt.

"And I believe I won't lose. That's the way you have to look at it."

It doesn't hurt that in Kwan's corner are Perozzi, who said he is meticulously molding his boxer in the style of Roberto Duran; second assistant Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, a former World Boxing Association (WBA) world light heavyweight champion; and cutman Rafael Garcia.

Although she is totally focused on her fight with Trzicky and said she's in the best shape of her life, Kwan's stable is tentatively planning on at least two more bouts this year -- one on the undercard of the Hasim Rahman-Oleg Maskaev fight scheduled for Aug. 12 at the Thomas & Mack Center, and then another in China later this year after the opening of Wynn Macau.

With the entire world now becoming Kwan's marketplace, Perozzi and his fighter are looking at her potential outside of the ring.

"The people in boxing are going to know about her anyway," Perozzi said. "It's what transcends past boxing is when you're really made."

Tickets for the Saturday's event are available at the Thomas & Mack box office, online at www.unlvtickets.com, or by calling 739-3267.