Warning: This story contains mention of suicide that may be distressing to some readers.
After years of dedication and struggle, Sabrina ‘The Machine’ Simmons has achieved her longtime goal of becoming national boxing champion.
On Nov. 23, the North Vancouver fighter defeated Ontario’s Victoria Vergos by unanimous decision to claim the 54-kilogram weight class belt at the Boxing Canada U23 Nationals in Sarnia, Ont.
Pared down from more than 200 athletes in the Olympic-style competition, Simmons was among the 30 women’s and men’s champions crowned at the event.
While she claimed the title without controversy, Simmons’s experience at nationals was far from smooth sailing.
When she landed Nov. 18, pre-tournament pressure and travel stress had added unexpected water weight, meaning she had to cut 2.5 kg (six pounds) for her first fight less than three days later – not an easy feat when you only weigh 120 pounds.
“That was a nightmare,” Simmons said. “It caused me to lose sleep before my first fight.”
That meant she went into her semifinal bout on three hours of sleep, dehydrated and fresh off a hard breakup from a long-term relationship. And there was a scheduling mix-up, so Simmons only got a 10-minute workout before her semifinal bout – normally she needs 45 minutes.
Despite going into the match dry, Simmons showed up to win. She was able to switch on The Machine and grind her way to a unanimous decision.
That led her to the national final, which Simmons said she won by an even larger margin.
“This is something that I had been wanting for years, since I started competing,” she said. “Stepping into the ring, I knew that I just had to win.”
Simmons understood that her opponent Vergos – who fights on Canada’s junior national team – is very strong technically.
“But I knew that I could crack her under pressure,” Simmons said. “I have a very aggressive fighting style … my ring name is The Machine for a reason: I don’t get tired. I just keep steam rolling until I’m done.”
To amp up their fighter, at one point Vergos’s coaches yelled to her that Simmons was slowing down. The Machine took issue with that.
“I ended up looking at the other coaches as I was hitting this girl. She was on the ropes and I said, ‘I’m not slowing down. I’m speeding up.’ I hit her with several body shots, and then landed a right hook to the head,” Simmons said.
The North Van brawler’s strategy paid off. After seeing her scores flash on a screen from the first two of three rounds, Simmons knew she had already won. But it didn’t hit her until the ref lifted her hand into the air.
“Hearing that I was the gold medallist made it real,” she said.
“I’m still processing it – like, I don’t think it’s totally registered that I won – but I was elated that all of the work that I’ve been putting in over the years … days and nights of training, blood, sweat and tears, literally, it paid off, and it meant something,” Simmons said.
Boxing brought Simmons back from the brink
For Simmons, boxing has provided more than the thrill of victory. At times, it’s given her a reason to live.
The young athlete has been open about her struggle with mental health, and the purpose that the sport has provided her.
“It’s been just over five years since boxing saved my life,” Simmons began in an Instagram post shared after her win at nationals.
In high school, her autism made it easy for others to get a rise out of her, she said.
“I was an easy target, and it built up after a while, being treated like garbage by the people who were supposed to be my friends,” Simmons said.
At 16 years old, she tried to take her own life by overdosing on antidepressants.
But she panicked and called a friend. The friend called her parents, and Simmons was rushed to hospital.
“The thing that got me to panic and realize that maybe this hadn’t been the right choice was that I had a fight that weekend,” she said. “I felt like if I didn’t go to that tournament, all of the people who had been horrible to me, that meant they won.”
Simmons kept fighting tournament to tournament. She won often, but when she lost, she felt like she was reliving her suicide attempt.
In late 2022, she returned to a tournament in Portland where she was defeated three years prior. This time, she was in a much better place mentally.
“I felt like my past self was cheering me on,” Simmons said. “When she got into that ring, she was fighting for her life. Now, I was fighting for myself.”
In the semifinals, she knocked out her opponent in the second round. It wasn’t until after she won the belt that Simmons learned her semifinal foe was a member of the U.S. national team.
Winning that tournament a transformational moment for her.
“Now I have a moth tattoo on my shoulder. It’s a very symbolic one,” Simmons said. “A lot of people who go through bad things see a butterfly as a symbol of transformation, about going through something and coming out beautiful.
“I chose a moth because I don’t think I came out beautiful, but I still survived. I came out changed. I don’t think I’m better than I was, but I am different,” she said.
Now, after earning her national belt, Simmons is waiting with anticipation to find out if she’ll make the national team, which would allow her to travel to international competitions.
To reach that goal, and bigger ones ahead, she trains five-to-six days a week with the team at Griffins Boxing and Fitness, including coach Emma Suttle.
Eventually, Simmons's ultimate goal is to become world champion.
“Although I know this dream might take years, I want to know that I gave everything because I would never forgive myself for stopping now,” she said.
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