As they matured, Martin trained them as adults.

Isabel took Barrios and Selina, then an 8-year-old, to the Eastside Boys and Girls Club in San Antonio, Texas. Then, when I moved to San Antonio and had Mario and saw how big boxing was here, I looked for a gym and my husband (Barrios’ stepfather, Martin Soto) and I signed him up.” The problem was that I lived in Wisconsin and there were no opportunities for me to box there. “I watched Christy Martin and thought, ‘I want to do that.’ I wanted to be a boxer. I remember watching Roberto Duran and Sugar Ray Leonard, all the great fighters,” said Isabel, who, with her husband, Martin, raised Barrios, older sister Selina (26) and their two younger siblings, Vanessa (17) and Valencia (15).

Mario Barrios began boxing at the age of six when his mother, Isabel Soto, took him and his sister Selina to the gym. Couldn't be prouder of my sister, came out took care of business now leaving with a first round KO! This is only the beginning for something huge! #TeamBarrios #TheComeUpĪ post shared by Mario Barrios on at 7:25pm PST MAMA SAID KNOCK YOU OUT