The everyday sparring, early morning runs and a lower jaw being nearly locked from stress aren't Jennifer Salinas' toughest challenges. Motherhood has trumped all of them.

The "Bolivian Queen" is readying for a July 10 bout at the Patriot Center while raising three young children. The Manassas personal trainer meets Natalie Forget in the Jimmy Lange-Jimmy LeBlanc undercard.

Salinas has a left hook all ready for her Canadian foe, but six rounds in the ring are nothing compared to seven days a week of training and mothering.

"Being a mom is harder," she said. "The day of the fight, mommy's still mommy. It's a little bit of a challenge right now. I can't quit being a mom and I can't quit training or I'll lose."

Salinas is a lean 5-foot-3, 125 pounder whose flowing dark hair accents her Bolivian roots. A Virginia native, she spent much of her childhood in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, until she returned at 15 to finish eighth nationally in wrestling from a Michigan high school.

Salinas loved the competition and the contact, and began boxing in 2003. She is 11-1 with four knockouts. The sole loss was in 2005.

"I'm real good at it and I can go places in boxing," she said. "Eventually, a title fight and anything that's related to boxing, being a promoter or manager. I'm addicted to boxing. It's my world."

The hardest part is blocking out the crowd.

"A lot of people have a beer in their hand and chips in the other and they're shouting things that they don't know what they're talking about," Salinas said. "It's frustrating and hard for me to focus because I have people shouting me from all directions. It's hard to separate my trainer's voice from everybody else."

Then there's the sexism that female boxers constantly encounter. A few men have landed hard on the dance floor in disbelief.

"When I get mad, I let my hands go. It would shock a lot of people," she said. "I try not to talk about it because a lot of people don't respect female boxers. They think it's a sideshow, which is an insult because I train as hard as guys do."

Salinas, 28, recently joined the District's Balance Gym and gained a new conditioning coach, trainer and nutritionist to improve her title chances.

"Things weren't working the way I was doing things," she said. "I'm getting older so I have to make the best of this. I just want to make sure I did my best. I may not be the best out there, but I want to be the best I can be. I haven't tried my best yet. I haven't had the right team with me."

Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com and Twitter @Snide_Remarks or e-mail rsnider@washingtonexaminer.com.