Olympic Boxing Draw:

Team USA Learns Path To Gold!

(July 26th) Team USA will have eight boxers competing at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. These eight boxers learned their paths to gold, including their first-round opponents during Thursday’s Olympic Games tournament draw.

The Paris 2024 Olympic boxing tournament has 13 weight divisions, seven men’s and six women’s. Competition in Paris will begin on Saturday, July 27, before concluding on Saturday, August 10, at the Roland-Garros Stadium and the North Paris Arena.

Below is an in-depth look at Team USA’s path to gold for USA Boxing’s eight competitors.

Jajaira Gonzalez (Glendale, Calif.) will get Team USA started in Paris and will go head-to-head against the experienced Estelle Mossely out of France during the first day of competition. These two seasoned boxers will square off in the 60 kg weight division around 3:20 p.m. ET on July 27. The American will make her Olympic debut after qualifying during the Pan American Games in October, where she secured the bronze medal. Mossely will make her Olympic return after becoming the first French female Olympic boxing gold medalist at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. Mossely is 11-0 in her professional career. The 2016 gold medalist is a four-time French national champion and a two-time lightweight World Championship medalist.

Roscoe Hill (Spring, Texas) will be the lone American boxer representing Team USA on day two, Sunday, July 28. Hill will go up against Omid Ahmadisafa, who represents the Refugee Olympic Team, beginning at 11 a.m. ET. Hill qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the second World Qualification Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand. Hill has won two medals in the last two years, including a bronze medal at the 2023 Pan American Games in October.

Day three will include Team USA super heavyweight, Joshua Edwards (Houston, Texas), who takes on Italy’s Diego Lenzi. Edwards punched his ticket at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile, where he won gold. Lenzi qualified for Paris at the first Olympic qualification tournament in Italy in March 2024. These two super heavyweights will take the ring on Monday, July 29, at approximately 6:36 a.m. ET.

Alyssa Mendoza (Caldwell, Idaho) will lead the way for the stars and the stripes on Tuesday, July 30, as she will face off against Mijgona Samadova from Tajikistan, starting at 11:38 a.m. ET. Mendoza is the youngest of the eight American boxers and makes her Olympic debut at just 20 years old, after punching her ticket at the second World Qualification Tournament in Bangkok, Thailand. The Caldwell, Idaho, native won three medals in 2023 and looks to carry that momentum to Paris.

Omari Jones (Orlando, Fla.) and Jahmal Harvey (Oxon Hill, Md.) each picked up opening-round byes, granting both competitors extra rest before stepping into the ring on Wednesday, July 31. Jones is one of Team USA's leaders and captains this year and qualified for Paris at the first World Qualification Tournament. Jones will box against Kan Chia Wei out of Chinese Taipei. Chia Wei won silver at the 2022 Asian Games and placed fifth in 2018 at the same event. The two contenders will go head-to-head at 5:48 p.m. ET.

As for Jahmal Harvey, he will go up against a similar opponent in Luiz Gabriel Oliveria in the 57 kg weight class. Harvey, a native of Oxon Hill, Md., has already squared off against the Brazilian five times in his career with wins in three of those bouts. The two featherweight boxers most recently competed at the 2023 Pan American Games semifinals, where Harvey won to punch his Olympic ticket. Harvey and Oliveira will square off for the sixth time around 10:02 a.m. ET.

Jennifer Lozano (Laredo, Texas) and Morelle McCane (Cleveland, Ohio) round out the eight for Team USA. Both boxers will start in the round of 16 and will need three wins each to medal. Lozano will get things started at 10:02 a.m. ET on Thursday, Aug. 1, and will take on the winner between Mexico’s Pihla Kaivo-Oja and Zambia’s Margaret Tembo.

McCane will face Navbakhor Khamidova out of Uzbekistan in the 66 kg weight class at 10:50 a.m. ET on Thursday, Aug. 1. Khamidova qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games at the Second World Qualification Tournament. McCane went on to win silver at the Pan American Games where she punched her ticket to Paris. McCane is the fifth consecutive Olympic boxer from Cleveland and the first female Olympic boxer from her city.

Team USA is being coached by USA Boxing Head Coach Billy Walsh (Colorado Springs, Colo.), along with National Resident Coach Timothy Nolan (Rochester, N.Y.), as well as National Development Coach Chad Wigle (Colorado Springs, Colo.), along with assistant coaches Adonis Frazier (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Christine Lopez (Rowlett, Texas).

Saturday, July 27-3:20 p.m. ET

60 kg: Jajaira Gonzalez, Glendale, Calif./USA vs Estelle Mossely/ FRA

Sunday, July 28- 5:00 a.m. ET

51 kg: Roscoe Hill, Spring, Texas/USA vs Omid Ahmadisafa/ EOR

Monday, July 29- 6:36 a.m. ET

92+ kg: Joshua Edwards, Houston, Texas/USA vs Diego Lenzi/ ITA

Tuesday, July 30- 11:38 a.m. ET

57 kg: Alyssa Mendoza, Caldwell, Idaho/USA, vs Mijgona Samadova/ TJK

Wednesday, July 31-

71 kg: Omari Jones, Orlando, Fla./USA vs Kan Chai Wei/ TPE-5:48 a.m. ET

57 kg: Jahmal Harvey, Oxon Hill, Md./USA vs Luiz Gabriel Oliveria/ BRA- 10:02 a.m. ET

Thursday, August 1

50 kg: Jennifer Lozano, Laredo, Texas/USA vs TBD, -10:02 a.m. ET

66 kg: Morelle McCane, Cleveland, Ohio/USA, vs Navbakhor Khamidova/ UZB- 10:50 a.m. ET

USA Boxing Partners With Golden Gloves VR!

(May 15th) Golden Gloves VR, a virtual reality boxing game created by Tulsa-based tech company Engine Room VR, is the official esports boxing game of USA Boxing, the governing body for Olympic-style boxing, Mike McAtee, USA Boxing Executive Director, announced today. Under a partnership agreement that extends through 2028, the organizations will explore the application of virtual boxing for adaptive, fitness and competition boxing.

Esports are enormously popular and have experienced exponential growth over the last decade. The value of the Global Esports Market is projected to reach $2,396.9 million by the end of 2024. In 2021, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) embraced a dedicated agenda for nurturing virtual sports and engaging with gaming communities. Last year, the IOC established the Olympic Esports Series, with the first event held in Singapore.

“The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris represent the 120th year that the sport of Olympic-style boxing has been a part of the Olympics,” says McAtee. “Esports is such a rapidly growing area with huge potential. We believe it’s important to explore this space and the possibilities it holds for the future of Olympic-style boxing. Our coaches see the potential for this as a training tool for their boxers, as well as an avenue to expand the reach of our sport in so many other areas, such as adaptive sports, esports competitions, and fitness boxing.”

Golden Gloves VR has completed closed alpha testing of multi-player/PVP, a game feature that allows two human players to compete via their avatars in the same virtual game environment. Open beta testing will be available in the game beginning June 1. Amateur boxers from across the world, including members of the 2024 USA Boxing Olympic Team, had the opportunity to demo the game and the multiplayer feature at the 2024 USA Boxing International Invitational and World Boxing Cup in Pueblo, CO in April.

“USA Boxing and Golden Gloves VR will be establishing an official ranking system for e-boxers based on online game play and tournaments,” says Aaron Sloan, a USA Boxing certified coach and owner of Engine Room VR. “Qualifying players will be invited to compete at USA Boxing National Championships and at Golden Gloves of America’s National Tournament of Champions right alongside our real-world boxers. Our e-boxers will box live in virtual reality and be awarded their own rankings and titles.”

USA Boxing is the National Governing Body for Olympic-style boxing in the United States. USAB is a non-profit corporation and a member of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee. Responsible for training, competition and development for its sport, as well as nominating athletes to the U.S. Olympic, Youth Olympic, and Pan American Teams, USAB is also recognized by World Boxing as the national federation responsible for the governance of the sport of Olympic-style boxing in the United States. With over 60,000 members, including athletes, coaches, officials, physicians and administrators, USA Boxing sanctions all Olympic-style boxing competition in the United States.

National Golden Gloves began in 1923 when Chicago Tribune Sports Editor Arch Ward conceived the idea of a newspaper sponsored citywide amateur boxing tournament. Champions were awarded a miniature golden glove. Many great professional boxers have launched their early athletic careers participating as amateurs in Golden Gloves tournaments. Golden Gloves continues to play a major role in the selection of representatives for the U.S. team in the Olympic Games. Former National Golden Gloves champions include outstanding boxers like Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Oscar De La Hoya, Mike Tyson, and Richard Torrez Jr.

Golden Gloves VR was designed by Tulsa-based tech company Engine Room VR for Meta Quest virtual reality headsets. Endorsed by Golden Gloves of America, a world-renowned name in amateur boxing, GGVR was developed in consultation with professional and amateur boxers and coaches to provide a realistic, immersive and progressive boxing experience where players can train and compete in a variety of virtual settings.

USA Boxing was the first National Federation to leave IBA in April of 2023 after its 77-year relationship as a charter member, and was the first to submit a completed application for membership to World Boxing. USA Boxing membership and the mission of World Boxing have been supported by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) every step of the way as the Olympic boxing crisis persisted. As a Founding Member of World Boxing, USA Boxing worked to ensure that the robust statutes were rooted in strong governance principles. Our support for World Boxing’s mission is not solely driven by the threat of boxing’s exclusion from the Olympic Program, but primarily by the unwavering belief that our boxers deserve an International Federation that operates according to strong governance, financial transparency, and fairness in the field of play. We are committed to working with World Boxing leaders to ensure that the organization upholds these principles and recognizes that being part of the Olympic Movement is a privilege rather than a right.

President Bach and IOC leadership cannot be any clearer—IBA’s failures in governance are not isolated to the boxing community. These failures impact sports representatives throughout the world, including but not limited to leaders of NOCs, other NFs and IFs, brand representatives, and the IOC itself. Continued support for an organization possessing such a track record of governance failures is inexcusable and fails our athletes.

We call on leaders of not just boxing National Federation leaders, but leaders of NOCs and other International Federations to stand up for our athletes by supporting boxing’s new International Federation and working together to ensure adherence to best-in-class governance principles.

USA Boxing Alumni Association

Created to champion a lifelong, mutually beneficial relations between USA Boxing and its alumni, --boxers, officials, coaches and boxing fans -- The Alumni Association connects generations of champions, inspiring and giving back to USA Boxing’s future boxing champions, in and out of the ring.

The USA Boxing Alumni Association is open to anyone who has a love for boxing and would like to stay connected with amateur boxing. Members are granted access to a wide variety of special events hosted by the Alumni Association, including its annual USA Boxing Alumni Association Hall of Fame reception.

To join the Alumni Association, simply register at alumni@usaboxing.org for a $40.00 per year membership fee. New members will receive a T-shirt, keychain and e-wallet.

“Eric continues to be a great ambassador for USA Boxing,” said Chris Cugliari, USA Boxing Alumni Association Director. “Whether it’s through teaching and mentoring youth through the sport of boxing, or pursuing his countless ventures outside of the ring, he relentlessly pursues his passions and gives back to the next generation. It wouldn’t surprise me if he ran for President someday. We’re excited to witness the next chapters of his journey and appreciate everything he has given to our sport.”

Eric Kelly is now on the Silver Screen and a trip to Los Angeles for next year’s 96th Academy Awards may be in the stars.

ABOUT USA BOXING

USA Boxing is the National Governing Body for Olympic-style amateur boxing in the United States. USA Boxing is a non-profit corporation and a member of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, responsible for training, competition and development of the sport, as well as nominating athletes to the U.S. Olympic, Youth Olympic and Pan American Games Teams. With over 50,000 members, including athletes, coaches, officials, physicians and administrators, USA Boxing sanctions all Olympic-style boxing competitions in the United States and has a mission to promote and grow Olympic-style amateur boxing in the United States and to inspire the tireless pursuit of Olympic gold and enable athletes and coaches to achieve sustained competitive excellence. Additionally, USA Boxing endeavors to teach all participants the character, confidence and focus they need to become resilient and diverse champions, both in and out of the ring. USA Boxing is one team, one nation, going for gold!