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How Abelina Sabrina went from Voice Acting to the Sweet Science

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Published: September 30, 2023

Abelina Sabrina's Journey from Voice Acting to the Sweet Science

Not everyone who steps into a boxing ring always thought they would be there. Over the last two years, the creation of the Creator Clash, a social media influencer boxing event for charity, has allowed people from all walks of life to step into the squared circle.

The participants ranged from former WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment) wrestlers, podcasters, Twitch video game streamers, and professional chess players to YouTube sensations who focus on taking on extreme challenges like Michelle Khare.

On an off-chance opportunity, stepped in East Los Angeles native Abelina Sabrina Rios. She is better known to her audience as Abelina Sabrina or Sabrina to friends and family. Sabrina is a voice actor and YouTube star who often makes hilarious comedy-parody skits. The types of shows she has worked on revolve around the anime world, including Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure, Sugar Pine 7, and Your Lie in April.

How she got started in voice acting wasn't overly elaborate, instead merely mimicking what most kids do on a Saturday morning in watching cartoons.

"When I was little, I would watch a lot of cartoons like any kid," Sabrina explained to Frontproof Media in an exclusive interview. "I thought, I like the way that sounds. So, I think that's why my voice is the way it is now because, as a kid, I would just mimic what I would hear on TV.

“In high school, I saw that this convention called Anime Expo was going to have open voiceover auditions hosted by a company called Bang Zoom Entertainment. I showed up and I auditioned, and they liked me. Ever since then, they call me back at random for auditions here and there."

In 2022, the first Creator Clash took place at the University of South Florida in Tampa in front of an infinitely energetic crowd that proved infectious to those who were there only out of curiosity. The combination of the audience and the sport of boxing ignited a desire to be a part of it somehow.

A poolside run-in with two of the creators of the Creator Clash, Ian "iDubbbz" Washburn and his significant other Anisa Jomha, kept Sabrina in their minds when thinking about the sequel to their social media boxing event.

"I attended the first Creator Clash as a guest, and it was just inspiring," Sabrina told Frontproof Media. "After the first event happened, I was hanging out at the pool, and Ian and Anisa were walking. I saw them, and we were chatting a little bit, and Anisa expressed that she wanted to include more female fights next year.

"Then, after everybody went home, I told her, 'Hey, if you have anybody in my height and weight range and if you need any more female fights, please, I want to throw my name in the ring. I would love to be considered."

In August of 2022, Sabrina would get the call for the second edition of the Creator Clash that was set to take place on April 15, 2023, at the Amalie Arena in Tampa, FL. Her opponent would be fellow Youtuber, Tik-Tok, and Twitch streamer Jaelaray.

How Abelina Sabrina went from Voice Acting to the Sweet Science

And while there is a level of excitement that hits you when you get the notice that you'll be a participant in an event that produced such a frenzied reaction, there is also a level of realism that becomes apparent. Sabrina didn't have much of an athletic background to speak of before heading into her first boxing match.

"I think prior, the most athletic thing that I've ever done was being Minnie Mouse at Disneyland," Sabrina said. "But that's just good cardio. I didn't left weights of anything."

Four years at Disneyland gave Sabrina experience being in front of a live audience, but it wouldn't prepare her for combat inside a boxing ring. For the East L.A. native, her physical foundation needed to be built from the ground up.

Given ample time to establish some kind of training regimen, Sarbina primarily trained under the tutelage of Grisha Todorov. Along with Todorov, Sabrina and many of the participants in the Creator Clash would train with three-time Golden Gloves champion Michael "Kwik" Flories, who would organize sparring sessions with fighters from his gym.

"My trainer is all the way in Woodland Hills and Tarzana," Sabrina said about her training. "His name is Grisha Todorov. He's a former champion from Bulgaria, a very different background, but that's who I spent most of my training with. Then, I had a personal trainer for strength and conditioning here in Glendale, where I'm now Bradley Randcourt. I was not athletic whatsoever. I've never done any sports at all. I did not work out at all. So they were building me from scratch.

"So what became my usual routine was three days a week, I would do boxing, and three days a week, I would do strength training nearby and then fight camp, which was about a month before the fight. I would still do three days a week of boxing, sometimes four days, but then also multiple sessions on that day."

In all sports, it's often touted that the physical and mental toll of constant training can be more challenging than the match or game you are preparing for. Boxing is one of those sports. It's been said that fights are usually won in the gym.

Reflecting on her entire experience from training to the day of the fight, a sparring session with a real professional boxer proved more daunting than anything she would come up against on fight night.

"Oddly enough, I was more scared when I had to spar with semi-pro boxer Nikkia Willaims," stated Sabrina. "It was my first sparring session with somebody else outside of my gym or my friend network. So I was very scared to box her. At least with my opponent for Creator Clash, Jaelaray, it would be her first time actually boxing, too. But when I had to box with this semi-pro female boxer, I was terrified.

"While we were sparring as soon as she hit me, she hit me harder than my coach. I started sobbing, but we kept sparring anyway. I made it three and a half rounds with her. Because I sparred with Nikkia, I faced that fear and did it anyway. Fighting with Jaelaray was scary, but I had faced scarier."

The scheduled five-round boxing exhibition match would be held between the two social media stars at a catchweight. Sabrina, who has a petite body type, usually walks around at 100 pounds, so she agreed to a catchweight of about 115 pounds for the fight with her opponent.

In combat sports, there are usually two battles—one that takes place in the ring and the other that takes place at the weight scale. Typically, the clash at the scale is one based on losing or cutting weight. But in Sabrina's case, she found one of the most challenging parts of training was putting on weight.

"Gaining weight," Sabrina expressed to Frontproof Media, as the hardest part of training for her. "Gaining weight, and gaining good weight because I wanted to put on 15 pounds of ideally mostly muscle. That's not what ended up happening. But it's really hard to gain weight when you're working out and running that much.

"So I had to put on 15 pounds for this fight. It was hard to keep that because I'm normally 100 or 105."

"If you don’t define yourself, the world is going to do it for you." -- Abelina Sabrina

The Day of the Fight

How to maneuver around distractions is something that every fighter has to learn to deal with. But, when your first time stepping into the squared circle is in an arena full of thousands of boisterous fans, the nerves can get the best of you. For Sabrina, all of the little things that are usually taken care of by members of a fighters team went wrong.

From having to get a newly fitting mouthpiece Fedexed to her, a pair of boxing gloves going missing to a Mariachi band that didn't seem like they were going to make it to the arena on time, all of the things that shouldn't be the focus added to fuel the anxiety and anxiousness of having to fight.

"My hands are getting wrapped and I can't contact anybody anymore because I can't use my phone," Sabrina said about her time in the locker room before the start of the fight. "So missing my mouthguard, missing gloves, missing mariachi, just all of the things that I didn't want to think about. It took alot of focus away from the fight."

Throughout the Creator Clash, several entrants had grandiose entrances that excited the live crowd—ranging from run-ins through the crowd to Pokemon theme songs that almost blew the roof off of the arena. It was put upon each individual participant to do something to stand out above the rest.

Deciding to take a more traditional approach, using her entrance to pay homage to her Mexican heritage and, in some ways, to the Mexican boxing community, Sabrina entered her bout against Jaelaray to a Mariachi band that got one of the loudest ovations of the night.

"I was fight number two, so I wanted my fight, at the very least, to be remembered out of all the people that were participating," Sabrina stated. "I was probably one of the ones who had a smaller platform. So I wanted to make people care about me and my fight, at least during my 15 minutes. I wanted to make it as entertaining for everybody as possible. I need to have that live mariachi.

"I wanted to channel boxers like Canelo, who make their walkout a fun spectacle, honoring their culture. That's what I was aiming for."

When one thinks of activities that would prepare somebody to box, sports like wrestling, track and field, and fencing come to mind. However, for Sabrina, her background working at Disneyland performing in front of a live crowd helped alleviate some of her nerves.

"The people aspect didn't freak me out at all," said Sabrina. "I think having a performing background really helped my walkout. I'm used to being surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of people."

The fight itself didn't end up playing out in Sabrina's favor, as the size difference between her and Jaelaray played a factor. Much to the crowd's delight, the two would trade blows in the middle of the ring, with each landing their share of right hands. Sabrina displayed her competitive nature throughout, as she immediately responded with a salvo of her own whenever she got hit.

After five rounds, Jaelaray was awarded with a unanimous decision victory. But, both competitors were given applause from the audience.

To succeed in boxing and not allow a moment to crush you mentally, you have to be able to control your emotions. Being emotionally intelligent enough not to allow yourself to become overwhelmed is what can separate you from failing. Taking control of the fear rather than letting it take the wheel is innate and can only be taught over time.

"I absolutely felt so much fear constantly," Sabrina confessed about her time in the ring. "I think because I worked so much on the mental aspect, I was terrified, but also, I was so happy to be there. I was so excited. I was smiling throughout most of the fight, and I was letting the fear fuel me.

"I was getting hit a lot, but I think I was doing good with rolling with the punches. I knew that it was not over yet and that I had to give my all until the very end."

For some participants, the experience of boxing steered them away from wanting to step in the ring for the rest of their lives. For others, it was like a rollercoaster that they couldn't wait to ride again.

Boxing is one of the most dangerous sports one can participate in. The Creator Clash was more about entertainment and having fun than seeing who was the best fighter. Still, everyone who stepped inside the ring gained a new level of respect and admiration for those who fight professionally.

"If I am invited to Creator Clash 3, I will 100% do it because as soon as I stepped out of the ring, all I wanted to do was go box again," Sabrina stated about her feelings after the fight. "With boxing and athletes in general, but especially boxing, you spend so much time training for what is only 10 or 15 minutes in a ring. You're putting so much on your body. I feel like it's selling your body. I've come to learn that most people would never step into a boxing ring. It makes me feel so proud to do it myself.

"I respect people who do choose to step into the ring because it's really hard and scary. Everyone,every single boxer, is scared to get in the ring, and we do it anyway."

There is a saying that the journey is more important than the destination. Boxing, in some respects, is a microcosm for the voyage of self-discovery that is life. When you step through those ropes, you are at your most vulnerable. It's a time when you can be exposed and a majority of the time, it's in front of a large group of people. But it can also bring out what you thought you never had.

Strength when you thought you were weak. Speed when you thought you were slow. And a smile when you thought there would be tears. It allows you to be in command of how you have always defined yourself. Who you see in the mirror is capable of more than you could have imagined.

"Some people have a certain idea of me at a glance, and they don't know me all that well," said Sabrina. "I felt like I had something to prove in this fight because I've learned that if you don't define yourself, the world is going to do it for you. I felt like this little bitty shadow for the longest time. But after Creator Clash 2, I did not feel like a shadow at all.

"I felt like my little moments in the light in the sun. I'm happy that I got to define myself."

(Featured Photo: Joseph Correa/Frontproof Media)

#HF #Creator Clash #Abelina Sabrina #Michelle Khare #iDubbbz

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