We just hit it off – Boxer Jessica Camara ‘felt sparks’ at weigh-in and got married two years after FIGHTING future wife
BOXING star Jessica Camara and her previous opponent Erika Jeanette Hernandez swapped the boxing ring for wedding rings after “feeling sparks” during their weigh-in.
Camara, who is fighting Caroline Dubois in Sheffield tonight for the world lightweight title, has opened up on the moment she knew that her now-wife Erika was more than just another opponent.
Back in 2017 Camara and Hernandez were preparing for a welterweight bout in Ontario, Canada when their weigh-in left them both with butterflies in their stomachs.
Camara remembers going face to face with the woman she was about to try and beat up and leaving thinking she would prefer to ask for her number instead – telling Sky Sports that they “hit it off”.
Speaking to Canadian outlet Le Journal de Montreal, Camara recalled: “That’s when I felt the connection. The sparks. I had never seen Erika in my life, but I immediately felt something strong.”
Both fighters were able to put their feeling to the side at the sound of the first bell, as Camara stormed to a unanimous decision victory.
But while STILL IN THE RING, the 36-year-old looked over at her beaten opponent and made sure that her corner asked for her number.
“I asked my coach to go see Erika and ask for her phone number.”, Camara explained.
“He hesitated, but I didn’t feel like joking. He went to see Erika and came back with her number.”
From there the pair hit it off on social media, texting back and forth and getting to know each other – but not without the help of Google Translate.
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Camara, who heralds from Canada, explained that she couldn’t communicate with Hernandez at first given her new flame was from Mexico and only spoke Spanish.
She said: “It wasn’t easy. We ended up talking to each other via Facebook using Google Translate.
“Erika didn’t speak English and me, my parents are of Portuguese origin and I was born in Cambridge, Ontario, I don’t speak Spanish. For a year, we talked to each other via Facebook. Then, we arranged to meet in Cancun.”
It was that holiday to Cancun that changed everything and set the two boxers on a path from smacking fists to smacking lips.
The pair fell madly in love and have been together ever since.
Trips to meet the family were organised before Camara dropped the knee in a local boxing gym with a dozen red roses.
Fast forward to September 2019, less than two full years after their fight, and the pair were married.
Now they are settled together in Montreal and forever thankful for their boxing meet cute.