Mexican Champ Likes to Fight - and Loves to Eat

As he strides onto the mats to do battle, Carlos Sansores is an imposing specimen.

The ground shakes – for in a sport noted for tall, lean, fighters, the Mexican heavyweight is built like an armored cattle truck. And it was not just the ground that shook when Sansores entered the field of play in Guadalajara’s Centro Acuatico CODE Metropolitano for the finals of the M+87kg.

Thunderous roars from the crowd resounded from the rafters to welcome the local hombre as he faced Ivan Garcia Martinez of Spain in the final.

Sansores looked heavier on his feet - until he suddenly connected with a cobra-fast front-foot round kick to the head for three points. That put him ahead - and he would replicate the strike in Round 2, granting gold.

“The plan was to finish it in the second,” Sansores said. “I wanted to go out with everything I had, I don’t think, ‘I’ll do this,’ or ‘I won’t do that’ - I just fight.”

Focus had been total.

“I was not conscious that it was a world championship match,” he said. “Then saw my family - they were in tears, very emotional! - and I realized that was world champion.”

Don’t let the champ’s imposing appearance or formidable skills put you off: Off the mats, Sansores is totally approachable. Commenting on his Herculean physique, he laughs and slaps his mid-section. “It’s a Dad bod!” he said.

His wife Pamela – with whom he has three young children - agrees.

“He likes to eat too many things!” she confides.

Good things are landing on his plate at present. When the couple were dining at a local restaurant after his win, the kitchen staff surprised him with a cake they had baked in honor of his achievement.

He needs to get used to this treatment. Taekwondo is hugely popular in Mexico and the press has gone full-on Sansores.

Afer his victory, it took him two hours to exit the venue, as he was mobbed at the doors by a crowd of fans demanding autographs and selfies.

“I was grateful to all the people, am not the world champion, Mexico is the world champion!” he said. “Everyone is part of it.”

Sansores, 25, grew up in a sporting family in the seaside resort city of Cancun: Both his parents were Footballers. In 2010, he discovered Taekwondo.

At first, he was drawn to the discipline of the martial art. But he also discovered a talent for the combat sport - a talent that was recognized. His first fight on Team Mexico was as a blue belt. From there, it’s been upwards and onwards.

Technically, “I really like the exchange of kicks and I also like the fist – like [famed Mexican Taekwondo star] Maria Espinoza! The front leg round kick is not my favorite. It is very predictable - but it is one my fortes.”

He adds, “I am not very fast” – a surprising statement given the blink-and-you-miss-it speed of his front-leg high kick. In terms of physique, “I am very strong and tough,” he said. “Other athletes have speed or height, but are not very strong.”

Speaking more broadly, he says, “I am an athlete with a lot of courage. I don’t have the best technique, but I am passionate about it.”

His wife agrees. “He is a big man with a big heart,” she said.

Now he is world champ, he is well-known – which means the hombre from Cancun will be the man other fighters in his category will be gunning for.

After the Grand Prix Final this December, Sansores is looking ahead to the PanAm Games, the Central American Games and the next World Championships, in Baku, Azerbaijan.

He knows it won’t be easy.

“In my Guadalajara fights I had an advantage because of the altitude of the city,” he admitted. “But in other competitions, I won’t have that.”

Due to that, Sansores reckons he needs to re-engineer his game in preparation for the 2023 competition season. “My kicks are predictable, so I want to innovate my style of combat,” he said.

Most of his victories have been in the region: Will we be seeing more of him in Grand Prix events?

“It depends: really want to go to other places, but it is not up to me,” he said. “I have really good fights here in PanAmerica.”