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 for men and six for women’s. Competition in Paris will begin on Saturday, July 27th, before concluding on Saturday, August 10th, at the Roland-Garros Stadium and the North Paris Arena. Here 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. Mossely is 11-0 in her professional career and has won an IBO championship. These two seasoned boxers will square off in the lightweight division around 3:20 p.m. ET on July 27th. 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. The 2016 gold medalist is a four-time French national champion and a two-time world amateur championships medalist.
Roscoe Hill (Spring, Texas) will be the lone American boxer representing Team USA on day two, Sunday, July 28th. Hill will go up against Omid Ahmadisafa, an Iranian-born kickboxer 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 29th, at approximately 6:36 a.m. ET.
Alyssa Mendoza (Caldwell, Idaho) will lead the way for the stars and the stripes on Tuesday, July 30th, 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 31st. 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 [Taiwan]. 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 Harvey, he will go up against a similar opponent in Luiz Gabriel Oliveria. 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. 1st, 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 welterweight class at 10:50 a.m. ET on Thursday, Aug. 1st. 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.
