While many spent Christmas break eating cookies, opening presents and relaxing, two sisters from Northeast D.C. traveled down to Richmond to fight. They returned to the District with big championship belts, which come with the bragging rights of being the best boxers for their age and weight in the country.
For 16-year-old Savannah Jackson, boxing is something she fell in love with pretty easily.
“I like sparring a lot, and when I was younger, just like, beating up boys,” she said. “That made me feel good.”
Her 15-year-old sister Summer Jackson, also ranked No. 1 in the country, agreed: “It was different when they beat up on us, because they’re boys and we’re girls.”
But now?
“I feel good when we are sparring, and sometimes, I’ll beat up on them,” Summer said.
Outside of a boxing ring, it’s been a long, long time since anyone tried to do that.
“Seventh grade there was this (boy) and he took my spot and I wasn’t having it,” Summer said. “He just tried to I guess take the seat. I just flew over my shoulder and was like, ‘yeah now this is my seat.’”
While they’re similar in age and weight, Savannah and Summer haven’t fought each other for real in years, though they do practice together. Both agree their differing styles help make each other better.
“Our styles compliment each other,” Savannah Jackson said. “She needs to work on fighting the people that fight like me, and I need to work on the people that fight like her. So drilling is good for us.”
Savannah Jackson said she’s more of an outside fighter, while her sister, who is shorter, likes to fight more on the inside.
“She’s really aggressive,” Savannah said. “So I do work on keeping her style of fighting away from me.”
To hear Summer Jackson explain it, “I have to work on people that are taller than me.”
“Usually people who are taller than you, they’re going to be on the outside,” she said. “So it’s like, you’d have to go in, but when you’re fighting someone that’s going into you, you can’t go with them. You’d have to be on the outside. So I have to work on that.”
The girls train for several hours a week, between conditioning and boxing. They also get pushed by their dad, Kareem Jackson, who was an NFL safety and former college football coach, and with their success in the ring, they’re both on the radar of the Team USA boxing coaches.
Bouts in Germany are being planned for the upcoming summer, and both girls are hoping to represent the red, white and blue in the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
If they don’t make the Summer Games, it won’t be because they aren’t working hard.
“When I went to (Junior Olympic) camp last year in September, it was a breeze,” Savannah said, in regards to the training. “Everybody was all tired, and I was like, ‘I’m just chilling.’”
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