Jackie Buntan on Boxing Works’ plethora of highly-skilled female strikers: “Like-minded people attracted to one another”

Filipino-American fighter Jackie Buntan feels fortunate to be in the company of highly-skilled female strikers at her home camp of Boxing Works.

One of the long-tenured athletes in the Southern California gym, the 26-year-old striker has seen their number grow, which include a solid team of women fighters that she said makes it different from many other camps.

Jackie Buntan shared this in an interview with Alex Wendling on YouTube, saying:

“Before you know, we had like a solid and big team of women, which is so, so rare to have women at a gym, especially women who compete. So, you know, people always ask like, are people like, you know, are you looking for women specifically, and the answer is no. It's kind of just, you know, like-minded people I guess attracted to one another. We're fortunate enough to have a solid group of girls who all work super hard and train hard. We all compete. So yeah.”

Watch the interview below:

Jackie Buntan is among the noted products of Lawndale-based Boxing Works, along with Janet Todd, the reigning women’s atomweight kickboxing world champion in ONE Championship.

She made her ONE debut in February 2021 and has a solid 5-1 record to date. Her lone defeat was against Smilla Sundell of Sweden in April last year, where she lost by unanimous decision in their clash for the inaugural ONE women’s strawweight Muay Thai world title.

Back in September, Jackie Buntan was scheduled to face Sundell in a title rematch. Unfortunately in the lead-up she had to withdraw over family matters.

Despite the setback, she is happy with the success she is experiencing right now, describing it as a result of the lessons she has learned from the people she trains with at Boxing Works, including owner-coach Bryan Popejoy.

Prior to joining ONE, Buntan had a solid amateur Muay Thai career in North America, compiling a 20-5 record.