Men’s Brackets Begin Today at 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Boxing
by Brian Taylor, USA Boxing
The 2024 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Boxing begins today at the CAJUNDOME in Lafayette, La., for the seven male weight classes boxing this week.
The tournament will be kicked off by a rematch of our 2023 Last Chance Qualifier 51 kg finals, with Aaron Maximus Garica (Payson, Utah) and Maximiliano Baez (Reading, Pa.). Garcia won the decision unanimously and will look to repeat to keep his Olympic dreams alive.
The 57 kg bracket, which looks to be one of, if not the most, exciting male brackets of the whole tournament, has impressive first-round bouts, including Jordan Fuentes (Fresno, Calif.) taking on William Luther (Washington, D.C.) and Yoruba Moreu (Albuquerque, N.M.) versus Lyndon Patricio (Waianae, Hawaii), who was a last-minute replacement athlete after original top seed Julius Ballo pulled out of the tournament.
Two must-watch bouts of the night belong to the 63.5 kg weight class.
Dustin Jimenez (Rochester, N.Y.), the youngest male boxer in these Trials and 2022 Youth National Champion, will open his tournament run against Vershaun Lee (Davenport, Iowa), a former Team USA high performance team member who competed at the 2021 Elite World Championships.
The second highly anticipated bout of the opening night includes Jonathan Mansour (San Diego, Calif.) and Garrett Rice (Dearborn, Mich.). Mansour competed in the last Olympic Trials and has represented Team USA internationally, including the 2021 Elite World Championships. Meanwhile, Rice performed impressively at this year’s National Qualifier and could make a deep run this week.
The 80 kg boxers will be the next division to step into the ring tonight, including Ethan Smith (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Julian Delgado (Corpus Christi, Texas) going head-to-head, with both having impressive wins this year, including an international gold medal at the Youth Brandenburg Cup for Smith, while Delgado won the National Golden Gloves to punch his ticket to this event.
Another bout to pay attention to is Alexis Chaparro (Ridgewood, N.Y.) and Delbert Taylor (Mckees Rocks, Pa.). The two met earlier this year at the 2023 USA Boxing Summer Festival, where Chaparro made a statement with a big knockout victory.
The night will conclude with our heavy and super heavyweight preliminaries, with Giovanni Perkins-Cornicelli (Rancho Mirage, Calif.) and Ty Jackson (Alexander, Ark.) closing out the night in what could be a potential fight of the night.
Female preliminary bouts will begin Tuesday, Dec. 5 at 6:00 p.m.
Before the night gets underway, the 2023 USA Boxing National Championships will begin, with the younger age divisions taking to the rings starting at noon. Full National Championships tournament information, including bout sheets, results and live stream can be found here.
This year’s Olympic Trials preliminary rounds will be streamed on USA Boxing’s website and begin at 6:00 p.m. C.T.
Click here to stay updated on bout sheets, results and tournament information.