Photo: Ricardo Vargas
BARUCH COLLEGE–For 22-year-old Ismael Villarreal, balancing school and professional boxing is no easy task. Prioritizing his education and his career in the ring every day for 13 years has been a fight of its own.
“Sacrifices? I’ve made a lot of sacrifices,” said Villarreal, who attends Lehman College in the Bronx.
“I didn’t go to parties, I had to cut off some of my friends, I couldn’t do much. It was from home, to running, to back home, to school, to the gym, to back home. I would repeat that over and over again.