Seemingly every photo taken of Isamary Aquino shows the teenage boxing sensation holding her many championship belts.
And straining under the weight of them.
There are even more belts at her Universal City home, along with countless trophies, medals and plaques.
“I honestly don’t know how many I have,” she said. “I’ve never really counted them.”
Maybe that’s because Aquino, 17, isn’t finished collecting them. The big prize, an Olympic gold medal, is still out there. It’s the carrot that motivates the Judson senior day in and day out to put in countless hours at the gym to improve her skills.
Aquino has her sights set on making the U.S. team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she would become San Antonio’s first Olympic boxer, male or female.
“That’s the ultimate goal for everyone,” she said. “It would really mean a lot if I was able to go there and represent my country.”
Aquino, 50-11 as an amateur, has the drive and tools to do it. The résumé has put her in position.
She’s won more than 20 national championships, including six Ringside titles, five Houston Open Ring National Championships and back-to-back USA Boxing Junior & Youth National Championships.
USA Boxing, the national governing body for amateur boxing, named her its 2016 Junior Boxing Female Athlete of the Year.
Born in Elmhurst, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and raised in nearby Rockford, Aquino began boxing at age 5 because her father wanted her to learn self-defense.
“There were always neighborhood kids bothering her,” said Mario Aquino, who used to be a kickboxer. “I didn’t want her to always have to depend on her older brother to defend her.”
So he took his daughter to a boxing gym, where she didn’t like the sport at first, primarily because she lost more bouts than she won.
But after the family moved to San Antonio in 2011, Aquino’s amateur career took off.
She started training at the Ramos Boxing Team gym on the South Side, where owner Arturo Ramos III and his father taught Aquino technique and pushed her to new heights.
“She really didn’t stand out at first,” Ramos III said. “But she’s one of the hardest workers ever to walk into this gym. To be the best, you have to have eat, sleep and drink boxing. And she does.”
Ramos said Aquino throws a lot of punches — important in amateur boxing — and is able to make adjustments in the ring because of her experience.
“The only thing that can derail her is the distractions,” Ramos said. “When you’re on top, all eyes are on you. Coaches will scout you. You have to keep adding things to your game.”
Aquino, who plans to attend the University of Texas in the fall, credits her coaches and family support for her success. Her father, a truck driver, accompanies her on most of her trips, and her mother is a constant companion.
Mario Aquino estimates the family spends about $10,000 a year taking Isamary to tournaments.
Aquino has a big year ahead of her, with the 2018 Youth World Championships in India and the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in October, among others.
By the time the 2018 Elite and Youth National Championships roll around in December, Aquino will be 18 and eligible to box in the elite division.
She already knows her primary competitor to make the U.S. Olympic team. Rianna Rios of the U.S. Army team won the elite division in 2017 and is considered the best in the 125-pound weight class.
“I have to get a lot faster and stronger, and my technique has to improve if I want to compete on the international level,” said Aquino, who runs cross country and track at Judson, where she is ranked in the top 3 percent of her class. “But I know I have the talent to succeed on a world stage.”
There’s always room in the Aquino household for an Olympic medal.
