Carol Deocares started boxing three years ago at the age of 14. She thinks it's 'kind of cool.' Photo by Craig Kojima, Star-Bulletin

What does she hate the most about boxing?

"Smelling the sweaty guys," she said, wrinkling her nose as she prepared for her workout at the steamy Waipahu Gym yesterday afternoon.

The 17-year-old Pearl City High School senior will have her third fight on the Fourth of July at Pearl Harbor's Ward Field.

Deocares is 0-2 against Noel Domen, who will again be her opponent - but she said the first fight was very close and is hoping to pick up her first victory.

Deocares started her boxing career at the age of 14, when she went to the Waipahu Gym with her sister, Kris, and four other friends.

It was supposed to be a few lessons in self-defense, but the 5-foot-3, 123-pound Deocares showed some promise in the ring, according to her trainer, Armando Blue.

"She progressed faster than the other girls," Blue said. "I had to talk her into fighting and she was hesitant at first.

"But she started sparring with the other boys and she looked pretty good, so she decided to try it out."

Now Deocares, who lives with her family in Kapolei, is the only one of the original six girls to stick with the male-dominated sport.

She said her father, Eddie, was all for it.

"It was always my father's favorite sport, but I thought it was kind of dumb," she said. "Now I think it's kind of cool."

Her mom, Bernarda, isn't so sure, she said.

"She thinks it's a boys' sport, so she doesn't really want me boxing," she said. "But she supports me on it."

Deocares said she likes being the only female boxer at her high school and so do her classmates - for the most part.

"They think it's pretty cool because I'm the only girl," she said. "Some of the guys tease me. They say 'Let's spar, let's spar.' But I just tell them nah, nah, that's OK.

"Then they just laugh. Overall, they think it's cool, too."

She trains five days a week, about an hour each day at the rustic boxing gym - where newspaper clips and posters of Jesus Salud and many of Hawaii's other outstanding fighters fill the walls.

Deocares said there is more to the sport than she first thought.

"You have to learn how to stand, how not to get hit as much and some other things," she said.

But overall, it's worth it - and she recommends it to other girls her age.

"It keeps you off the streets, from getting in trouble after school," she said. "And everything is more violent out there, so it's good for self-defense."

She was nervous before her first two fights, which are comprised of three 90-second rounds.

The females wear the same type of gloves, headgear, shorts and shoes as the males, but the women also wear a plastic shield over a T-shirt to protect their upper body.

Deocares said she will only box until she graduates from high school.

"At college you have to think about school more," she said, "So I won't have the time."

Has she been knocked down, yet?

"Oh, no way," she said with a smile, as a boy started hitting the heavy bag in the background. "Well, not yet anyway."