Marc Chaparro fights to keep a promise to his mother

There was a time when boxing was simply something Marc Chaparro did to lose weight.

Now, it is the thing that keeps him moving forward.

Chaparro was still near the beginning of his amateur career when his mother died, passing away just two weeks before his second fight. Before she died, Chaparro made her a promise.

“I promised her on her deathbed that I would be world champ,” said Chaparro. “I gotta at least attempt to complete that promise and take it all the way.”

On August 28, the 22-year-old from West Hempstead, Long Island will take the next step toward making good on those words when he makes his professional debut at the Billerica Elks Lodge in Massachusetts. Chaparro will face Argentina’s Jose Aubel (8-12, 7 KOs) in a four-round junior middleweight bout on a Boston Boxing Promotions card.

For Chaparro, it will be more than the beginning of a professional boxing career. It is another mile traveled down a road that, at different points, he wasn’t sure he would remain on.

“Boxing kept me here,” Chaparro said. “If it wasn’t for boxing and the discipline, I don’t know where I would be. Probably in jail or doing something stupid.”

Born in Manhattan, Chaparro spent the first year of his life in Queens before his family settled on Long Island. The youngest of three children in a family with roots in Mexico City, Chaparro grew up with his sister, older brother and parents.

He also grew up ready to fight.

“I was always a fighter,” Chaparro said. “I always liked slap boxing and just fighting in general. I was never scared. I was always fighting.”

When he first entered a boxing gym at 16, there was no grand plan attached to it. Soon it became a hobby, and then something much more serious as trainers began noticing how quickly he absorbed what they showed him.

People around the gym began telling the teenager that he could become something in boxing, maybe even a world champion one day. Chaparro listened without allowing himself to completely believe it.

Then his mother died. The promise he made to her gave those predictions a different meaning.

“That promise to my mom, that definitely told me that you gotta keep your promise,” Chaparro said. “You gotta make it to the big, big stage. Gotta get that green belt for her. Then, truthfully, I can die happy knowing that I fulfilled my promise I made to her.”

The loss also sent Chaparro into a difficult period with his mental health. He wants that part of his story told because he knows grief can take people to places they never expected to go.

“The loss of people in your life can really, really, really fuck you up,” Chaparro said. “I know people that kill themselves. I was almost there. I struggled a bit with my mental health.”

Boxing gave him somewhere to put that pain. There was always another run to complete, another round to spar, another tournament to fight in.

Then another loss hit his family.

Chaparro’s older brother, whom he describes as one of his biggest supporters, died seven days before Chaparro’s 21st birthday.

“After losing my mom and then losing my brother, I was like, ‘Nah, I got to keep going,’” Chaparro said.

Chaparro estimates that he finished his amateur career with a 34-13 record in 47 bouts. His proudest moment came at the 2024 USA Boxing Summer Festival in Wichita, Kansas, when he advanced to the championship bout in his first appearance at a national tournament before losing to future national team boxer Carlos Flowers.

“Some people try their whole life to get past the first day, second day, and they just can’t manage it,” Chaparro said. “My first time, I made it all the way to the finals.”

There were other milestones. Chaparro was 7-0 when he won the novice division of the New York Boxing Tournament in 2023, earning the first championship belt of his career. He later won the tournament again, added a New York Metro tournament title and fought at Madison Square Garden during the Ring Masters Championships, finishing second.

Eventually, though, Chaparro began to wonder whether the amateur game was still the best fit for him.

The answer became clearer after his loss at the USA Boxing National Championships last December. Chaparro felt the style required to succeed in amateur boxing – scoring quickly and moving away – didn’t mesh with the sustained pressure he considers one of his greatest strengths.

“I felt like his punches were just touches,” Chaparro said. “He wasn’t even hitting hard. He was just touching and going. And I get it. At the end of the day, it’s boxing.”

Opponents also began telling Chaparro how exhausting it was to deal with his pressure over three rounds.

“They’re all gassed at the end of the fights,” Chaparro said. “They give me my respect. They tell me, ‘Yeah, man, you’re such a good pressure fighter.’”

After his final amateur bout, trainer Joe Gadigian asked Chaparro if he was ready to turn professional. Chaparro didn’t have an answer. In a way, that was his answer.

“The fact that I had no answer, it just showed me, like, you know what, Marc? I think it is time for that step up,” Chaparro said.

Chaparro believes his pressure will translate better to the professional game, though he pushes back against the idea that he is simply a come-forward brawler. He likens himself to a Mexican Terence Crawford because of his ability to switch stances and make adjustments.

One example came in his 2024 bout against Sharif One on Long Island. Chaparro was dropped for the first time in the opening round, only to increase the pressure in the second and third and force One to take a count of his own. One won the split decision, but Chaparro showed the resilience and pressure he believes will serve him better in the professional ranks.

The responsibilities outside the gym, meanwhile, have only multiplied.

Chaparro recently became a father. His son is now a month old, adding another person to fight for while Chaparro balances training, work and fatherhood on around five to six hours of sleep a night.

His father has helped make that balancing act possible by giving him flexibility with his work schedule.

“It’s definitely hard, but nothing comes easy in life. When there’s a will, there’s a way,” Chaparro said.

“I gotta manage seeing my kid, providing for my kid. I want to watch him grow up, but I also want to accomplish my dream. I can’t work, box and see him — those three things are hard. But you know what? I’ve been doing it somehow.”

His son has also changed Chaparro’s picture of success.

The world championship remains the promise. The green belt remains the symbol of what he told his mother he would accomplish. But Chaparro now thinks about years down the road, when his son will be old enough to type his father’s name into a search bar.

“I just want him to look up his dad’s name and he sees who his dad is and he’s like, ‘Damn, that’s my dad,’” Chaparro said.

“I just want to lead by example and show him that no matter what, anything is possible.”

Through everything that has changed – the deaths of his mother and brother, becoming a father himself and the transition from amateur prospect to professional fighter – one thing has remained unchanged.

A promise is still a promise.

On August 28, Marc Chaparro begins trying to keep his.