Boxing gives teacher strength to manage disease

A recent Saturday, 9:06 a.m.: Laura Deanovic didn't set foot in a boxing ring until she was 40.

By then, she was out of shape. She was unhappy. A lifelong battle with psoriasis, a potentially debilitating autoimmune disease that often is written off as a simple skin rash, had taken a toll on her both physically and emotionally.

"My health was a mess," Deanovic said. "I didn't want to go into my 40s and have my life be this way."

She found boxing. "Six months in, I decided I don't want to do this half-assed," said Deanovic, who is now 46. "I want to do this for real."

She started training almost every day at the Third Street Boxing Gym in Dogpatch, and over the next two years fought two amateur bouts, winning one and losing the other. Her body, she says, changed completely.

Deanovic doesn't mean boxing cured her psoriasis or eliminated the side effects of medication. But it gave her the strength to manage the disease.

Filled with her newborn confidence, Deanovic went to Hollywood, Fla., to compete for the National Golden Gloves Championship. She had no thought of actually winning, but after victories in her third and fourth amateur fights, the super featherweight masters title was hers.

Her trainer, Ed Gutierrez, and Third Street Boxing Gym owner Paul Wade encouraged her to turn pro. They recognized her talent, and they saw something more.

Boxer Laura Deanovic, 46, works out at the Third Street Boxing Gym in S.F. Boxer Laura Deanovic, 46, works out at the Third Street Boxing Gym in S.F. Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle Photo: Mike Kepka, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 15 Caption Close Boxing gives teacher strength to manage disease 1 / 15 Back to Gallery

"I wish that more people would have her heart," Gutierrez said. "Even when she's injured, she's in the gym. That's dedication."

Turning pro meant Deanovic would be paid for her pummeling, but she'd also have to get in the ring without the headgear that amateurs wear and use gloves that have less padding. Broken noses, black eyes and a bloody face were sure to come with the territory - and they have, for Deanovic, along with a cracked eye socket.

Deanovic didn't take the challenge lightly. She reduced her hours at Gateway High School in San Francisco, where she teaches calculus, so she could spend more time training. Her students have come to accept that she sometimes shows up for class with cuts and bruises on her face.

"No one who would have known me 10 years ago ever would have said, 'Oh, I think she's going to be a professional fighter,' " Deanovic said. "But I feel like that instinct has been in me the whole time. It is a whole new reinvention."

Since turning pro two years ago she's had six fights but won just once. She's not fighting in a masters division, like in the amateur ranks - one of her opponents was 19, and the oldest was 36.

Deanovic says that as long as she gives each contest every ounce of effort, even a loss is worth the battle.

"I'm not the best fighter. I'm always going to be the oldest fighter," Deanovic said. "But the thing is ... every single fight has been like this hard-core warrior fight to the bitter end. I have the heart of a warrior."