Content Provided by : Benjamin Hotchman, Denver Post

The boxer’s story is seldom told. Not Mike Alvarado; his story has been splattered on these pages for years — a local boy makes good, and Saturday night he will fight for millions in Inglewood, Calif.

But for every “Mile High Mike,” there’s an anonymous gritty face with gritted teeth, punching a dusty bag, over and over and over, but for what?

For this boxer, the fight isn’t inside the ropes — the fight is to get inside the ropes in the first place. This boxer is winless, yet she’s a winner. You probably know “Mile High Mike.” Now, meet “The Warrior Princess.”

Cecelia Martinez was heading into another freshman year. She was involved with drugs. Teachers had seen this before, a lost girl, failing and flailing and falling behind. Life was lapping her.

Cecelia Martinez’ senior photo. (Cecelia Martinez)

“I was like, ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ ” she recalled Friday. “I’m going to be in the same spot, always a freshman. I’m not going anywhere.”

Sports save. For all of the stories about sports propelling people, taking the good and making them great, sports also are saviors for folks on the fringe. Sports give chances, and darn it if Cece didn’t take a chance.

“I got to box!” she recalls telling her dad.

“It’s not for girls,” he told her.

“I don’t care if it’s not for girls,” she replied. “I’m going to make it for girls.”

In the middle of her teen years, Martinez discovered the Grudge Training Center in Arvada. It would become her second home.

“I’ve known Cece and her family since they came in, back when she was still in her trouble with school, trying to find her way,” said Leann Perez, who’s involved with Grudge in numerous capacities. “But a lot of the credit is to Trevor (Wittman), telling her she can’t train until you get your grades up. We want to see progress reports, report cards. And eventually, Cece is such a lovable girl, she worked with everybody in the gym, and really won over all of our hearts.”

The Warrior Princess (Cecelia Martinez)

This is what is so heartwarming about these stories — that inside so many trodden bodies are beautiful souls. It’s also what is heart-wrenching about these stories — for every Martinez, there’s someone else, forever a freshman.

“They’ve seen me at my lowest, when I was ready to give up,” Martinez said of her family and her family at the gym, “and then they saw I was able to build up my own self- esteem.

“They tell me I can’t win a fight if I don’t try, it’s not just going to come to me. They made me realize that nothing will land in my lap. I have to fight for everything I want.”

She goes to the gym every day but Sunday, sparring and sprinting on the treadmill, working on footwork and combinations and, well, you know, as long as she’s doing something, anything in that gym, it’s better than the alternative.

She has blossomed there. She’s fought four times, never winning. Who cares? She won just by showing up. Most important, she’s graduating from Hidden Lake High School on Wednesday. She can’t believe it. Cece. A graduate. It’s happening. She’s going to Front Range Community College “to get a lot of my core classes done,” she said. “Then I’ll be off to bigger or better things.”

She wants to work in medicine, hopefully with young babies.

“She’s enriching her life by doing everything that’s positive,” Perez said. “Everyone in the gym is super-excited for her to give her graduation gifts and see her become this better person. It’s been an honor to see her grow, it really has.

“You see it all the time, young boys coming into the gym, fighting too much on the street, and they want something to look forward to. Boxing is a really good outlet for kids to come in and better their lives — I’ve seen my own husband do it. And it’s such a sad thing to hear boxing is a dying sport, because of what it can do to kids all over the place.”