Inés Sainz

Inés Sainz Gallo de Pérez (Spanish pronunciation: [iˈnes ˈsains]; September 20, 1978) is a Mexican journalist hosting the Spanish-language sports interview program DxTips (or, Deportips); she is also a journalist for Azteca Deportes. Sainz and her husband, who reside in Mexico, own the production company that created the show. Sainz works in the English language as a boxing match hostess.

Sainz grew up in a family of three siblings in Mexico City, Mexico, all of them brothers, one her twin. Although Sainz was an athletic tomboy active in a number of sports (she became a black belt in taekwondo at the age of 14, competing in national competitions) Sainz's mother, a homemaker, wanted her to be more feminine, and encouraged her to enter professional modeling, which she did, shooting commercials for such companies as Bacardi, Hoteles Misión, and Telcel.

Sainz graduated with a licenciatura en derecho ("bachelor in law") degree from the Universidad del Valle de Mexico in Querétaro and a masters in tax law from the Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro. Her father was likewise a lawyer. Additionally, Sainz obtained a graduate degree in sports business administration. Moving from modeling to television sports reporting, Sainz married Mexican television producer Héctor Pérez Rojano and they have four children, María Inés, Eduardo, Hector, and Maya. Sainz remained an active participant herself in such sports as football, swimming, volleyball, basketball and tennis.

Public image

In 2010, TV Azteca's website's featured photo galleries of her as well as an article in its "Bad Girls" section extolling her as a woman of intelligence and humor, illustrated by a photo of her modeling a swimsuit. Likewise, during the 2000s, Sainz appeared on the cover of such Spanish-language magazines as Revista Gente y la Actualidad, H Para Hombres, Maxim, and Esquire Mexico. Prior and during the 2010 World Cup, pictures of Sainz were featured on such places as Bleacher Report and the websites run by Sports Illustrated and Men's Health. Sainz was chosen by the magazine FHM as the fifth sexiest woman sports reporter in the world in August 2009.

Sports reporting

Inés Sainz at the Mexico vs. North Korea international friendly football match in Torreón, Coahuila, Mexico, on March 17, 2010.

Sainz has interviewed, among others, tennis players Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, basketball players Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal, baseball players Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez and association football players Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Rivaldo, Zinedine Zidane, and Lionel Messi. By July 2006, Sainz had covered three Champions League tournaments and four NBA Finals, the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2006 World Cup. As of 2009, Sainz had covered six Super Bowls, the first, Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002. In January 2009, promoting American football stars to a Mexican audience, Sainz ran an informal biceps competition during the Super Bowl XLIII "media day," awarding her "Strongest Right Arm" award to the Arizona Cardinals' defensive end Antonio Smith. According to the Palm Beach Post, at the 2007 Super Bowl's "media day," Sainz was photographed as often as Peyton Manning; and according to The Daily Telegraph, she was "besides Manning, the single-most popular person on the premises." During a period when Terrell Owens was not speaking with the press in 2008, it was only Sainz who was able to gain an exclusive interview with the wide receiver.

Boxing promotion company Top Rank hired Sainz to conduct pre-event reports and interviews and offer ringside commentary for the Manny Pacquiao vs. Antonio Margarito World Super Welterweight Championship bout in Arlington, Texas on November 13, 2010. Sainz co-hosted broadcast commentary for the March 12, 2011 Miguel Cotto vs. Ricardo Mayorga bout.

In 2016, it was announced that Sainz would be a host on the Netflix reality show Ultimate Beastmaster.

Controversy

In 2010 the TV Azteca reporter sought an interview with then NY Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, and she had been standing on the sidelines during practice when Jets players and coaches appeared to throw footballs in her direction. Later, as she waited in the locker room to conduct an interview with Sanchez, she was reportedly the target of lewd comments from players and staff. She tweeted in Spanish: "I'm so uncomfortable! I'm in the Jets locker room waiting for Mark Sanchez and trying not to look around me." And a few moments later, she wrote, "I want to cover my ears." Media persons reported that team members made "catcalls and rude comments". According to Sainz, it was "the rest of the media start to hear the different kind of things that I didn't hear." She accepted a personal apology from Jets owner Woody Johnson when those incidents became known to him.

In the immediate aftermath of the incident, Sainz lost a contract to be the spokesperson for a Mexican bank, which she said was "very painful" for her; however, she said that the publicity resulting from the event also led her to become "the most popular journalist right now in Mexico and Latin America."