(Photo: Shamiracle and Dymond Hardaway/Randy Hardaway)
At 13 and 14 years old, two sisters from LaGrange, Georgia are nationally-ranked boxers.
Shamiracle Hardaway and her sister Dymond — who are coached by their father, an amateur boxer — are ranked in the top two in their weight classes by USA Boxing.
Dymond is ranked No. 1 in the Girl’s Intermediate 114 lbs. weight class; Shamiracle is ranked No. 2 in the Junior Women’s 125 lbs. weight class.
The duo always watched their father train and box and began on a path of their own.
They train two to three hours a day for a total of about 21 hours each week.
“We cut out some things that kids will usually do and make some sacrifices to train,” said 14-year-old Shamiracle who has been boxing for the last nine years.
Some challenges the girls face is maintaining and losing weight that attributes to the weight classes that they can fight in.
Despite not seeing many women in the industry, specifically more Black women, the sisters agree that the best way to work through lack of representation is to “stay strong and always believe what you can achieve.”
Outside of boxing, they want to pursue careers in entertainment.
Dymond, 13, who has been boxing for the last seven years, wants to pursue acting and modeling. Shamiracle has her eyes set on continuing their father’s legacy as a boxing coach.