Patricio Manuel sits silently backstage at the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino. He’s in the back corner of the white-tarpaulined gazebo as he waits to be called to the ring of the 3,000-seater events center here in Indio, California.
Inside the thin tent walls, he can hear the hubbub of spectators already seated in the arena and the bass-y bursts of rap intermittently being used to warm up the PA system. But neither seem to bother the glazed-eyed boxer as he rubs his beard. Focused.
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It’s been eight weeks of running drills, eating right, and heavy sparring for Manuel to be ripped and ready for this, his third professional bout, and potentially toughest yet. Physically, the 38-year-old is in great shape — his lean, tattooed torso of super-featherweight brawn hitting the scales on the 130-pound mark at the weigh-in the day before.
All that Manuel’s sagacious head coach Victor Valenzuela can do now is fine-tune his fighter’s composure. He knows that the usual high-stakes danger of boxing will be coupled with historical stakes tonight. That’s because Manuel is a rare talent of the sport: a five-time women’s national amateur champion and former female Olympic trialist, whose transition in 2013 led him to become the first trans man to fight professionally on American soil.