Julio Pena realized he wanted to keep fighting in a moment that would make most think twice during his kickboxing debut in 2007.
“He caught me with a hook on the tip of my nose, and my nose started to bleed pretty good,” recalled Pena. “I remember the ref separating us after clinching up, and I saw the blood and was like, ‘Man, this is real.’ I used a couple other words that I don’t think you can print, but I was like, man, this is insane, this is crazy, this is awesome. I could do this again.”
The journey that began that night in Philadelphia for Pena, a Jamaica Plain native and deputy sheriff who lives in Holbrook, continues tomorrow at Foxwoods Casino, as he squares off with fellow Hub fighter Matt Doherty on a Lion Fight promotion card. The 135-pound tilt kicks off a live broadcast on AXS TV.
Pena, a Muay Thai stylist fighting out of the Hard Knocks gym in Hyde Park, still considers the sport a hobby even 20 fights deep. A pro career would be a hard sell. He’s got a mortgage now, just got married, and his parents, a Dominican father and Puerto Rican mother who are retired and live with him, are too skittish to attend or even watch his fights.
Pena’s wife, Aimee, has a bit more of a stomach for the game. The couple met at the gym, he proposed to her in the ring after one of his fights, and she helped him squeeze in training for this fight during their honeymoon last month aboard a cruise to Mexico.
“I forced some focus mitts into my bags, I brought my jump rope, mouthpiece, wraps, and stuff like that,” the 36-year-old Pena said. “We’d be up on the top deck, I’d be running, and then she’d hold pads for me.”
It turned into a bit of a spectator attraction on board, as kids ogled at the thud and smack of Pena’s kicks and punches. Cruise workers wore an expression that blended confusion and concern, particularly when Pena engaged in his ritual of singing to military cadence while working out near the miniature golf course.
“Some people would give me the thumbs up, some people would smile, some people would give me that, ‘OK, what’s wrong with this guy?’ look,” Pena said. “I’m kind of used to getting those looks.”
Kickboxing became a part of Pena’s life after he attended a friend’s fight in 2007. He took his first fight shortly thereafter, and now finds himself riding a wave of a kickboxing resurgence in the United States, with televised promotions commanding attention and feeding off the mixed martial arts audience.
Pena sees himself as an exponent of the tradition-rich Muay Thai and kickboxing culture more than any kind of TV star. Pena says he looks forward to “putting it out there and letting the average person see that there’s tradition to it, it is a martial art, it’s not just a fighting style.
“And being put in mainstream media is absolutely bringing (kickboxing) to life now, and I think it’s going to continue to grow.”