Dizziness from workouts and routine training sessions led her own personal trainer to discourage Soto from ever fighting again. A year earlier, Soto broke her right hand, and surgery required three pins inserted to help repair it.

Everyone around Soto agreed: she’d been hit too often, and continuing her career could very well mean the end of her life.

At 34 years old, Soto is finding her way back.

“The way I see it, not fighting will kill me,” Soto said. “I know my purpose, and it’s more. It’s greater than stepping into the ring and beating up somebody. … I want to show people that you can pick yourself up and conquer.”

Prolonged training sessions — largely sparring against men — rendered Soto’s career highly questionable without deliberate, careful changes to her training regimen. Her opponent never scared her, Soto said, but dialing back on her full-throttle mentality was certainly new.

“Ninety percent of the time that I’m training, I’m going in the ring with men and getting hit by guys; that never phased me,” Soto said.

Soto’s introduction to fighting was organic and far from conventional.

As a teen, Soto routinely found herself in fights while attending Ben Lomond High School. Her parents, who immigrated to the U.S. from Guanajuato, Mexico, didn’t approve of boxing or mixed martial arts courses as a substitute for their daughter’s behavior. Instead, they opted to have her move to Mexico to finish high school.

Those two years — which Soto spent largely outside, working long days with her father while finishing high school studies — had a profound effect on Soto’s dedication not just to herself, but her eventual son, who is now 9 years old.

These days, Soto is up by 5 a.m. to train before putting in 12 hours per day as a lab technician for a local food company.

“We were working the fields just getting sweaty from sunrise to sunset,” Soto said about her two years in Mexico. “(My dad) was like, ‘You didn’t know how to appreciate the life you had over there; you’re going to learn to appreciate it.’ It really changed me and made me see like, man, what was I doing?”

Soto first picked up martial arts — specifically Muay Thai, and later kickboxing — in 2018, thanks in part to Jason Tayofa, a Layton-based instructor known for his work with another Ogdenite turned pro, Destiny McCubbin. In a matter of months, Tayofa kicked off her amateur career, contending bouts around Utah, Idaho and Wyoming.

Near the time her 12-year marriage came to an end, Soto booked herself into the two-day TITLE Boxing Invitational at The Westgate in Las Vegas. At 119 pounds, Soto became the only female to drop both of her opponents in the opening round.

Shortly after that victory, Soto got the opportunity to challenge McCubbin, now in Nevada, at the latter’s personal gym.

“I go six rounds with (McCubbin), and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I can do this,'” Soto said. “I’d just gone six rounds with someone I’d admired this whole time.”

Soto continued fighting through 2023, but her fits of dizziness and post-training stress also grew as she prepared to take her career to the professional level. In a matter of months, her aspirations were put on hold. The medical recommendation was that she not fight.

Soto reconnected with Tayofa earlier this year and formulated a low-impact blueprint that reintroduced her to the ring. A recent visit with her doctor found improvements in her sleep habits, post-workout fatigue or dizziness, and Soto’s overall health.

“We’re taking those precautions,” Soto said. “I’m sparring more with girls that are my size and everything because that’s a really high risk that boxers take when you’re stepping in there with people that’re not even in your weight class. Even 10 pounds with a punch, it’s a huge difference, you’re taking more impact than you should. … I wasn’t giving my body that time to heal.”

Of course, the risk of concussion and other physical injury remains, no matter how many steps Soto takes to ease her return to boxing. Boxing sees 40% of retired participants develop chronic traumatic brain injury (CTBI) or neurological deficits, according to the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine.

On Monday, Soto told the Standard-Examiner she plans on making her pro boxing debut with All Heart Promotions of Farr West. She plans to compete in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship later this summer.

Her story caught the attention of newly elected City Council member Flor Lopez, who has visited with Soto and offered her support in her professional boxing journey. Platforming Soto and her fellow Latina role models, Lopez said, is a critical part of her role as a local leader.

“I want that kind of woman in the community as an example for my kids,” Lopez said.

“If someone told you no, do it anyway because you’re capable of it. When I decided to run for Ogden City Council, my own family, my own friends, told me, ‘Don’t do it. You’re a very good person. You don’t deserve to be in politics because that’s too much for you.’

“Everyone doubted me, so when (Josefina) shared her story with me — that is our culture.”

For Soto, her fighting career serves as a model not just for her son, but for Ogden’s Latino community, which represents more than half of the Ogden School District as of 2023, according to an article published by Weber State University.

In her community, Soto said, the notion that a woman should remain at home is still a prominent drawback to young girls growing up in Ogden and beyond.

“I come from a Hispanic culture where my mom and dad were like ‘No, that’s a man’s sport and a woman belongs in the kitchen and all that stuff,” Soto said. “I told (Tayofa), ‘put me in boxing gloves, let’s do this. I’m going to go for it.'”

Soto, now preparing for her pro boxing debut later this summer, visited with Lopez for the first time during a recent training session.

“I posted on Facebook that I was getting ready to come back and fight and go pro, and she messaged me and said anything that she could help me with,” Soto said. “I love seeing women out here doing something different, and especially with the Latino culture we always grew up with, it’s beautiful to have her in my corner and have her supporting me, and I support her as well.”

Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.