Marlen Esparza will be making history when she heads to London to compete in women's boxing at the 2012 Olympics, the first games to let women into the ring.

Marlen Esparza is America's best chance at winning one of the first women's boxing medals after being crowned U.S. champion from 2006 through 2011. During that span, Esparza, a flyweight out of Houston, also won gold at the 2008 Pan American Games and a bronze at the 2006 World Championships.

Hype surrounding Esparza, 23, has reached such high levels that the women's fashion magazine Vogue featured her in its pages.

Esparza told Vogue that though she long hoped to join the U.S. women's boxing team for the 2012 Olympics, she didn't relish it as much as she expected when she actually qualified for London.

I thought that when I won the Olympic trials I was going to be the happiest person in the whole world, Esparza said. And I was happy. But it wasn't like I thought it was going to be. I had already imagined it in my head so many times. It was real before it happened.

Marlen Esparza said her personal life has taken a big hit from her rigorous training.

It's miserable, actually. It's torture. I get mad. I don't date. I haven't gone out in a long time. It's just depressing. Thank God I don't have Facebook, because if I did, I'd be jealous of everybody. I don't want to know what I'm missing.

Esparza might not have a personal Facebook account, but her handlers do have a Facebook page for the female boxer so her fans can interact with her.

The account also includes a bunch of photos of the 28-year-old beauty, which you can also find in this slideshow.

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