USMF Gold Medal Winner, Janet Garcia Borbon: “It was just one of the best days of my life”
Full interview with Janet Garcia Borbon above.
USMF photos provided by Jeff Dojillo
Last month, in mid-March, Muay Thai athletes stemming across the nation traveled to Denver, Colorado for the USMF 2022 World Qualifying Games. Such an opportunity would grant the winners the chance to advance to the World Games which is set to take place in Malaysia this August. With just a few short months for these elite athletes to piece it all together, 105 lb. winner, Janet Garcia Borbon took the opportunity and ran!
Borbon, a champion of several promotions, is familiar with a tournament schedule. Although it can often be difficult to keep your weight balanced throughout the duration of a tournament, weighting in, hydrating and fighting several times-she insists her team made the process bearable.
“My team-everything I needed; they were right there. I just had to ask,” Borbon reflects on the events. “I fought twice and I needed to weigh in every time that I fought,” she recalls. “So, the day I fought, I had to wake up, go cut a little bit, go weigh in, hydrate, fight” she says with a laugh.
With so much pressure encapsulated into one weekend, Borbon and her teammates had the perfect answer for down-time. HBO Max’s new series, Euphoria.
“Me and my teammate started watching a show on HBO Max. Euphoria, Borbon explains with an evident smile of appreciation for the series. (They are) “Hour long episodes so it was perfect for us! We were just watching that whenever we weren’t fighting,” she happily explains.
After a long trip and two grueling bouts with some of the best of what America has to offer, Borbon got her hand raised for the final time, declaring her the gold winner. “It felt,”-as Borbon pauses to collect her thoughts. “Happiness. A sense of relief, excitement,” she explains. “It was just one of the best days of my life, honestly, she declares. “It was all the hard work that I put into this camp and not just this camp it’s just like throughout my fighting career,” she continues to elaborate. “Where I started and what it took me to get to this point…. Sometimes you wonder like as amateurs,” she continues. “We don’t get paid. We do it because we love it. And we have other lives surrounding it. We shape and mold our life just to be able to run and train and do this, do that. All of the sacrifices. It just paid off!”
Tune in above to hear from the USMF 105lb gold medalist, Janet Garcia Borbon as she discusses venturing to Denver, Colorado and winning it all! She discusses celebrating with some ink (tattoo) therapy, when she expects to be back in the ring and so much more!
