USA Sends Four More Boxers to Gold Medal Rounds on Day Three of Brandenburg Cup

Team USA capped off another strong day at the 2025 Brandenburg Cup in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, on Friday, closing out the semifinal rounds. Joseph Awinongya (men’s 80 kg | Joliet, Ill.), Salim Ellis-Bey (men’s 60 kg | Philadelphia, Pa.), Lavant Brownlee (men’s 65 kg | Louisville, Ky.) and Nnajai Wright (men’s 90+ kg | Richmond, Va.) each earned victories on Friday and advanced to Saturday’s Championship schedule.

Lauryn Elmore (women’s 65 kg | Sacramento, Calif.), Angel Blancarte (men’s 85 kg | Hutchinson, Kan.), Jose Vasquez (men’s 70 kg | Dallas, Texas) and Anthony Lona (men’s 75 kg | Kyle, Texas) concluded their runs at the tournament with bronze medals.

The United States has racked up four bronze medals and will target seven gold medals on the final day of the Brandenburg Cup. Joining Awinongya, Ellis-Bey, Brownlee and Wright in the hunt for gold medals are Lorenzo Patricio (men’s 50 kg | Waianae, Hawaii), Joscelyn Olayo-Munoz (women’s 48 kg | Las Cruces, N.M.) and Alexis Tangaro (women’s 54 kg | Waianae, Hawaii). Olayo-Munoz and Tangaro qualified for the title bouts in their respective brackets on Thursday, while Patricio advanced with a walkover on Friday.

Awinongya set the pace early against a tough competitor from Poland, Fabian Urbanski, in the light heavyweight matchup. Urbanski tested Awinongya across three rounds, but ultimately, the Joliet, Ill., native proved too much with his speed and power. Despite his stature, Awinongya utilized his quickness, precision and dominance to land a variety of devastating combinations to ultimately claim a unanimous decision. Joseph, a 2024 World Boxing U19 gold medalist, continues to impress and has racked up two 5-0 decisions already this week. In Saturday’s gold medal match, he will take on Australia’s Khaled Bassal in bout 15, beginning at approximately 8:30 a.m. ET.

Ellis-Bey, one of two Team USA captains, continued to show why he is one of the more impressive amateur boxers within the United States with a 4-0 win over Georgia’s Luka Chkhikvadze on Friday. His pressure was impeccable throughout his latest bout, and the Georgian had no answers to counter the Philadelphia, Pa., native. While Ellis-Bey had a point taken away in the matchup, he continued to push forward with ruthless aggression and earned the decision. Ellis-Bey will now take on Azerbaijan’s Babayev Subhan on Saturday for the 60 kilogram title in bout 11 at 7:30 a.m. ET

Brownlee continued his incredible week with yet another unanimous decision on Friday, this time over England’s Jacob Naismith. He has been tested three times this week and made easy work of each of his opponents. Brownlee, a southpaw, is difficult for his opposition to deal with and proved that once again using his length and power over Naismith. Brownlee is on the hunt for his fourth win of the week on Saturday and will square off against Georgia’s Zviad Tchotchua in bout 12, starting at 7:45 a.m. ET.

Wright claimed the final win of the day for the USA and continued to showcase his unconventional style to invade the defense of Germany’s Vincent Omo-Osawe. Wright is comfortable against taller opponents, as was the case against Omo-Osawe, and utilized his quick head movement and destructive uppercuts to close the bout for his second unanimous decision of the week. The Richmond, Va., native will now match up against Germany’s Ahmed Abdulgamidov for the 90+ kilogram gold medal.

Olayo-Munoz will kick things off for the United States on Saturday and will chase down the women’s 48 kg gold medal against Italy’s Amelia Sula in bout one at 5 a.m. ET. Tangaro will compete just two bouts later against Lithuania’s Jelizaveta Jakimova for the 54 kg crown in bout four at 5:30 a.m. ET. Patricio is hungry for the 50 kg gold medal and will look to topple Australia’s Taj Harrington in bout nine at 7 a.m. ET.

A complete schedule of Saturday’s action for Team USA can be found below. Each bout of the 2025 Brandenburg Cup will be broadcast live by the German Boxing Federation. The broadcast has been placed behind a paywall for 12.99 (EUR), and can be accessed HERE.

Team USA is led by head coach Edward Fonteneaux (Fayetteville, N.C.), and assisted by Jason Hamilton (Spanaway, Wash.), Ronald Wright (Columbus, Ga.) and Yessenia Montalvo (Bloomfield, N.J.). To keep up with Team USA’s remaining seven competitors, follow along on the USA Boxing tournament page, linked HERE.

Saturday, August 2 (All Bout Start Times Listed in ET):

W48 kg | Joscelyn Olayo-Munoz, USA vs. Amelia Sula, ITA | Bout 1, 5 a.m.

W54 kg | Alexis Tangaro, USA vs. Jelizaveta Jakimova, LTU | Bout 3, 5:30 a.m.

M50 kg | Lorenzo Patricio, USA vs. Taj Harrington, AUS | Bout 9, 11 a.m.

M60 kg | Salim Ellis-Bey, USA vs. Babayev Subhan, AZE | Bout 11, 7:30 a.m.

M65 kg | Lavant Brownlee, USA vs. Zviad Tchotchua, GEO | Bout 12, 7:45 a.m.

M80 kg | Joseph Awinongya, USA vs. Khaled Bassal, AUS | Bout 15, 8:30 a.m.

M90+ kg | Nnajai Wright, USA vs. Ahmed Abdulgamidov, GER | Bout 18, 9:15 a.m.