Jersey City’s own Jenna Gaglioti quickly climbing the women’s boxing ranks

Jersey City’s own Jenna Gaglioti is quickly climbing the women’s boxing ranks despite being a relative newcomer to the sport, currently in the midst of a new fight camp in anticipation of a return to the ring in May.

“I was always an athlete and then I went to college and had to kind of stop athletics because I was really focusing on academics. After I graduated, I tried bodybuilding, I tried power lifting, and nothing really kind of made sense to me,” Gaglioti said in an interview on Tuesday.

“So I decided to go back into some sort of competitive sport and I walked into a boxing gym one day and that’s how it kind of took off.”

With roughly four years experience, Gaglioti, 30, didn’t take long to make an impact in the ring, compiling a 2-0 professional record and already ranked the number 10 women’s middleweight in the world and the fourth best in the country, according to BoxRec.

After scoring a unanimous decision win in her October pro debut against a former Olympian before notching a first round TKO victory in February, she is seeking another relatively quick turnaround with a May 21st fight night in mind as her team negotiates an opponent.

Like all competitors, Gaglioti aspires to hold multiple world titles, but also noted that her motivation goes beyond championship gold.

“I want to show that females can be able to do what they want to do. If you walk into a boxing gym one day and decide that you want to be a world champion, you’re able to do it, and I feel like right now I’m trying to pave the way so that females after me don’t feel shy or afraid to do what they feel like they want to do.”

Legendary Jersey City coach Luis “Mosquito” Gonzalez, whose primary gym is right at the Franklin L. Williams Middle School at 222 Laidlaw Ave., said that Gaglioti has a powerful right hand, a good jab, and a strong work ethic, which is typically a recipe for success.

“She likes to work: she’s very tough. The thing about Jenna is she’s a good listener … sometimes between me and her we bump heads, I’m a tough coach, she knows the way that I am, and everything that we do here is for her,” he said.