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Deployed Airman, professional boxer traveled hard road

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Cheryl L. Toner
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  Senior Airman Elisha Olivas was born a fighter, but she did not enter in the ring until she was 18. Overcoming a childhood where the goals were to stay off the streets and out of jail, she not only beat the odds, but pulled on the boxing gloves and came out on top.

The reservist deployed from Peterson Air Force Base, Colo., is well known around the base for flashing her 200-watt smile, embracing others with her heart-felt giving nature, and teaching cardio kickboxing classes. As a proud mother of a 5-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl, one would find it hard to believe she is a professional boxer who has knocked out four opponents in the ring.

But her life did not start out all smiles and happiness. Born in Long Beach, Calif., her father was not in the picture and died when she was 7. To live closer to family, she and her mother moved to Denver before Airman Olivas started first grade. Much to their disappointment, the duo was told via an airport white courtesy phone that they could not stay with family.

However, help arrived from a grandmother who helped raise her, said the 28-year-old, 5-foot 2-inch, 125-pound fighter.

Turning the tide in her favor was the day she turned 14 and landed a job sweeping floors at school. What she later called “an addiction,” she eventually worked up to five jobs.

“I was all proud of my $75 check,” she said.

She went out and earned her keep. By 18, she had her “little apartment, bible and college,” and said she was going through everything necessary to become a nun.

Meanwhile, she picked up boxing gloves “to lose 10 pounds so I could go into ballet.” The weight came off, but the ballet never came.

“Boxing was the first thing I was good at right away,” she said, so she stuck with it. After three months, she had her first fight.

“It was horrible,” Airman Olivas said of the humiliation that came with losing her first bout. After “hiding for two weeks,” she came back and hit it hard.

In spite of her desire to excel at the sport, the female side of boxing was still in its infancy.

“Back then, (women’s) boxing was nothing like it is now,” she said. The perception was that boxing was a seedy sideshow and she said people thought she was “a mud wrestler, a lesbian or just crazy.” To top it off, she said, “My first coach didn’t even believe in women’s boxing.”

As she juggled pursing a religious quest, going to college, and overcoming stereotypes on the mat, she met her future husband at age 19. They married when she was 24.

“We got married on my lunch break at the justice of peace,” she said.

After a divorce, another child and with nobody to help her, she wound up living in a tiny apartment in a bad neighborhood.

“I hit a wall,” Airman Olivas said. “I always felt like I was one step behind.”

While she does not regret having children, she said she knew there was more to life than what she was doing.

Continuing to box and finding a niche in the health-care business, she found a new interest: the Air Force Reserve. On a whim, she joined and has not looked back since.

In the Reserve, her civilian job and in the ring, she takes the task at hand straight on. Never even coming close to being knocked out -- not even a bloody nose -- with a record of 4-4-1, her body has more self-inflicted damage than anything else.

“I’ve had black eyes, though,” she said. “Every time it happens, my coach says, ‘See, I told you so.’” Meanwhile, “my wrists crack, my hands and shoulders throb … I have creaks and cracks.”

Despite all that, Airman Olivas is determined to continue the sport.

“Boxing keeps me serene,” she said. “It’s something everyone needs -- a hobby that allows them to breathe.” She said when she is in the ring, it is nothing personal and she does not feel bad later. “Everything goes blank. I watch her moves, I watch myself, and when I smell blood, I go for the kill.” However, she said her forte is more defensive, and when her opponent is about to go down, “I have to force myself to finish the job.”

With four knockouts -- two in matches and two in exhibition fights -- she said she feels a sense of mission accomplishment.

While she has two children waiting for her back home, this deployment has endeared her even more to the military. She is contemplating going active duty because she loves the camaraderie

“I’ve learned more about 150 people here than I have about 10 people at my home station,” she said. Airman Olivas has also said she is “nobody special,” yet her ab routine has become a class. She also works on an individual basis with people who want to get in shape, as well as teaching her cardio kickboxing classes.

Some people go through life, as well as deployments, by just getting by. Airman Olivas lives life like her deployments, and to this day, takes the lead from her mother.

“She’s my hero,” she said. “She doesn’t think she’s a hero, but she taught me love … and she taught me not to label people.”