Top 10 moments of USA Boxing in 2023
by Luke Santangelo
2023 is ending and USA Boxing as an organization had a year to remember. From Olympic Qualifiers, to awards and fun outside the ring exposure, USA Boxing had a successful year.
With much to look back on, here are the top 10 moments of 2023 for USA Boxing.
The Santiago 2023 Pan American Games were a huge success for USA Boxing, as five USA Boxing members qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games through their results in Santiago, Chile. Joshua Edwards (Houston, Texas), Jajaira Gonzalez (Glendora, Calif.), Jahmal Harvey (Oxon Hill, Md.) Jennifer Lozano (Laredo, Texas) and Morelle McCane (Cleveland, Ohio) will represent Team USA next July in Paris.
All five boxers earned a medal for Team USA, with Edwards (92+ kg) and Harvey (57 kg) taking gold, Lozano (50 kg) and McCane (66 kg) earning silver, while Gonzalez (60 kg) took bronze. Rounding out Team USA’s medal haul was Roscoe Hill (Spring, Texas), 51 kg, who won bronze to bring the team’s total to six medals, placing the team tied for the second most medals by a country in boxing during the Games.
McCane will be the fifth straight boxer from Cleveland and the first female boxer from the city to qualify to the Olympics. At the same time, Lozano became the first athlete from any sport, male or female, from Laredo to become an Olympian, placing both their names in the record books.
Gonzalez will look to stand atop the podium in Paris 10 years after winning gold at the Youth Olympic Games. (Add anything about the other two, to just have extra info here?)
Click here to look back at Team USA’s time in Santiago.
2023 was a record-setting year for USA Boxing membership. In 2023, USA Boxing reached a total of 59,850 members. They also recorded a record number in boxers, 42,077, and non-athletes, 14,891.
Membership numbers were up in every category from last year, including registered clubs, which saw 2,649 gyms nationwide as members of USA Boxing.
This year’s total membership numbers were an 18% increase from previous record numbers in 2019, while registered clubs increased 8% from 2022.
USA Boxing, committed to the Olympic movement, became the first country to leave the International Boxing Association (IBA) and join World Boxing as one of the first six official members. World Boxing was launched in April 2023 and aims to guarantee that boxing remains at the heart of the Olympic movement in Los Angeles 2028 and beyond.
Other countries confirmed as part of the first six official members of World Boxing were New Zealand Boxing, Boxing Australia, GB Boxing, England Boxing, and the Dutch Boxing Federation.
World Boxing now has 26 members and held their first official Congress in November, which saw USA Boxing’s Dr. Armando Sanchez be voted in as the Chair of the Medical and Anti-Doping Committee.
Click here for full release on USA Boxing joining World Boxing.
USA Boxing received one of the 10 Sanofi Awards due to the organization’s commitment and dedication to Coaching You Up! KO Flu and Covid. In November, Sanofi announced that there were ten winners of its 2023 Health Equity Accelerator Awards, and USA Boxing was honored to receive the award in the Influenza Immunization category. Coaching You Up engages and communicates about influenza risks and the benefits of being vaccinated, and more information on Coaching You Up can be found here.
The complete award announcement can be found here.
USA Boxing had its first Women’s Championships in Toledo, Ohio, back in July. The tournament was USA Boxing’s first-ever female-only tournament and it had more than 200 boxers from eight National Federations across four continents compete at the Glass City Center.
The Women’s Championship was open to all ages, from pee wee (aged 8-10) to masters (35 and over). It created opportunities for women to compete, as well as provided coaching education opportunities with open workouts, panels with Olympians and trailblazers in female boxing, and a Purple Carpet Gala to honor the event!
Click here to read about the event and results from July.
USA Boxing and Jake Paul plan to give a behind the scenes look at the team’s Olympic journey to Paris. Paul plans to provide experience and mentorship to Team USA in his time with the team, helping give advice to the boxers on marketing themselves, inside and outside the ring, as well as get the opportunity to train side-by-side with the Team USA boxers at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Click here to read the full announcement.
Team USA Boxing High Performance elite team completed 16 High Performance Training Camps in the US, including two multi-nation camps. The High Performance team also attended three multi-nation camps to prepare for international competitions. Team USA competed in five international competitions, where the team put up impressive numbers, including 19 gold medals, six silver medals, and 16 bronze medals. Of the 365 days in the 2023 calendar, the High Performance team spent 311 in training camps or competitions.
Team USA's Youth team earned 12 of the total medals during the 2023 Youth Brandenburg Cup, winning nine gold, two silver, and one bronze medal durnig their one international trip of 2023
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation, in partnership with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, announced in May 2023 that the Daniels Fund donated $800,000 in grant funding to the foundation to support USA Boxing on their journey to the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
The two-year grant will fund performance enhancement for USA Boxing’s elite teams, coaching education programming, and greater access to camps and competitions for USA Boxing’s youth and junior-level athletes. This grant has covered the cost of USA Boxing’s coaching education staff, online certification programs, and additional coaching education programs, impacting more than 50,000 USA Boxing members nationwide.
To learn more about the Daniels Fund, visit their website at danielsfund.org. Learn more about the USOPF at give.teamusa.org. Click here to read the full announcement of the donation.
Click here to read more about their donation.
USA Boxing partnered with Engine Room to create an exact replica of the USA Boxing training facility at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and includes an arena inside the Golden Gloves VR game. The VR game includes difficulty modes as players can go from amateur to professional and fight for titles.
Click here to read more.
Throughout 2023, members of USA Boxing had the opportunity to showcase their personalities and talents outside of boxing, and gain exposure outside of the ring for their successes inside the ring.
In March 2023, 2022 Youth World Champion Yoseline Perez (Houston, Texas) had the opportunity to step out of the ring and onto the red carpet as she attended the Creed III press junket and Los Angeles Premiere. Perez interviewed the movie’s three stars, including Michael B. Jordan, about boxing, their favorite Olympians, and more.
Robby Gonzales (Las Vegas, Nev.) was one of three Team USA athletes to excite the fan’s about next summer’s Olympic Games at BravoCon! Gonzales rubbed elbows with stars of the Real Housewives franchise, Vanderpump Rules, and more Bravolebrities.
This year also saw the launch of “Emilio’s Bakery,” which showcased Team USA’s Emilio Garcia’s (Laredo, Texas) passion for baking to show off his personality and passions outside of boxing. Be sure to be on the lookout next year for more episodes and look back at previous episodes here.
We closed out the year with two of our qualified boxers, Morelle and Josh, getting to be part of the recent Jake Paul bout, which included them walking alongside him on his ring walk and meeting the influencer who has brought numerous new eyes to the sport!