Decorated Amateur Fighter Simona Winkler Found Her Home Away From Home With Boxing

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Simona Winkler found a new purpose and home with boxing.

Wrinkler, who competes in the women’s 70kg division, has gotten two bronze medals in her two international amateur competitions this year.

The 29-year-old grew up in Latvia watching boxing, but didn’t have the chance to participate in the sport in her youth. Instead, she focused on gymnastics and swimming. She moved to America when she was adopted. She would live in Virginia. She went to the University of Washington, majoring in biochemistry, with hopes of one day attending medical school.

“Just for fun, I wanted to join a boxing club, I didn’t realize it was a team,” Winkler told FightsATW. “I did my first sparring session, and I did really well. I was naturally aggressive.”

Then came the pandemic. Winkler was unable to compete until the world reopened.

“I pretty much ran through everybody in the college scene,” Winkler said. “The next step was to go to the USA Boxing nationals.”

Her saga at national boxing tournaments was one of learning.

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“Collegiate boxing and USA Boxing are at different levels,” Winkler said. “My first two losses at USA Boxing National Tournaments motivated me from there; I started to get progressively better.”

In 2023, she won her first USA Boxing national title and became a pillar of her weight class in the United States. In 2025, she began competing internationally for USA Boxing, making her debut against Sema Caliskan in Liverpool, England. She would lose a split decision. Now, she looks to mirror her development from a college boxer to a national champion, as she aims to win gold internationally.

“It is achievable, I might not be there just yet,” Winkler said. “That is how it went at USA Nationals. I competed against the top-ranked people, and I didn’t do [how I wanted to], but I could see that I can do better. That motivates me more than just winning right away.”

Winkler, who now lives in Seattle, is a coach at her alma mater for the Huskies Boxing Team and trains at Seattle Boxing Gym. Both of which are important for her.

“I am pretty much alone in America, by myself, especially in Washington state,” Winkler said. “They are family, they are my community, and I think that is what motivates me the most in boxing – making them proud but also being a part of that community.”