World amateur lightweight champion Rashida Ellis, age 27, is the product of a boxing family in Lynn, Massachusetts. Her brothers, welterweight Rashidi (24-0, 15 KOs) and super middleweight Ronald (18-3-2, 12 KOs), are successful pro boxers. Unlike most of her 2020 USA Olympic Boxing Team members, Rashida decided almost immediately after she suffered a questionable loss in the opening round of the Olympics in Tokyo, to go for gold in Paris. She became the first female American boxer to win a gold medal in an Olympic weight class at this past May’s world amateur championships in Turkey since the great Claressa Shields in 2016, taking a 3-2 decision from her arch-rival, Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira. It was sweet revengs, as Ferreira had recently defeated Ellis, 4-1, at the 2022 AMBC Elite Tournament in March.

 

“I feel like I deserved it because I’ve been doing this a while and had suffered a few upsets in finals,” Ellis talked about her gold medal performance in Turkey. “I fought my game, using my experience, and I was more confident. I knew from the jump I was going to win the Worlds. She (Ferreira) is my rival, and we knew we’d be there at the end. I boxed and moved, she likes to get you on the ropes and man-handle you. When you box and move, she’s in trouble because she’s flat-footed, and then she gets frustrated. Everybody there knew I had won because I had landed more punches.The worlds was an opportunity to see who is in our division. I knew it would be me and her. Unless something shocking happens, it’ll be me and her for the Olympic gold in Paris.”

 

Ellis has been fighting for 16 years and she could have turned pro after a disappointing finish in the Tokyo Olympics [she lost ifn the first round of the Olympics]. She figured that her resume will be even more impressive in four years, especially if she’s wearing an Olympic gold medal, and the timing to go pro wasn’t right for her. “Honestly, after the Olympics, I made a decision to stay an amateur, because I’m going to get that gold in Paris,” Ellis added. “Today, women boxers are making that much money as pros. Instead of turning pro and fighting a few times a year, I figured 4 more years in the amateurs, and I will have a better resume to jump to the pros. It will change my life. I’ll need to get a good manager when I turn pro and probably move to California, where a lot of the top boxers are. I can’t wait to go to Paris! I’ve never been. If we don’t get a chance to see enough there, I’ll stay a few extra days to enjoy Paris.”