Thursday’s Action Featured Stellar Showings at the 2025 USA Boxing Junior Olympics and Summer Festival
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by Zack Chavez, USA Boxing
Day Four of the 2025 USA Boxing Junior Olympics and Summer Festival in Full Swing
Two sessions remain after the competition closed Thursday at the 2025 USA Boxing Junior Olympics and Summer Festival inside the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nev. There were decisions for 252 bouts throughout day four of the tournament, bringing the week to 1,049 matches contested ahead of Friday’s slate.
Javier Mitchell (Rochester, N.Y.) stole the show during the evening session with a dominant showing against his opponent in the Junior Male 145-pound division. Mitchell used his length and his power to close out his opponent and dictate the tempo of the bout from start to finish.
“I just knew I could stay long because I knew my opponent was shorter than me,” said Mitchell of his game plan heading into the evening. “So, I knew I could use my length to dominate. From there, in the third round, I was ready to bang, go in, so that’s what I did. I was just ready to dominate.”
Mitchell eyes his next bout and is feeling confident heading into his semifinal showdown against Iseah Hernandez (Valley Village, Calif.). The two will meet to determine half of the title bout in that division. On the other side of the Junior Male 145-pound bracket, Adrian Shephard (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Cain Elizondo (Vancouver, Wash.) will square off on Friday.
Among the women’s competition, Maleah Rodriguez, another Vancouver, Wash., product, closed out an impressive performance over Sophia Martinez (Port Orange, Fla.) and claimed a 5-0 win to earn a spot in the Youth Female 112-pound championship bout. Rodriguez will take on Brianna Martinez for the gold medal.
While Sophia did not secure the victory, she was still a wealth of positivity after exiting the ring and plans to use the tournament as motivation to come back stronger in her amateur career.
“I pray to God and think about how He’s always with me,” Martinez said after her bout. “Regardless if I win or lose, it’s okay because I get experience. You don’t always get experience from success. You also lose and get experience, and I’m just grateful to Him always. I love Him so much.”
Day five of the 2025 USA Boxing Junior Olympics and Summer Festival continues on Friday, June 20, with one session starting at noon PT. To view brackets, bout sheets, and all other tournament information for the 2025 USA Boxing Junior Olympics and Summer Festival, fans can navigate to the event page, linked HERE.
The 2025 USA Boxing Junior Olympics and Summer Festival will continue through Saturday, June 21. Saturday’s schedules will also consist of one session day, beginning at noon.
Each session throughout the week of the 2025 USA Boxing Junior Olympics and Summer Festival will be broadcast live, free of charge, on the USA Boxing website and the USA Boxing YouTube page. Tickets to attend the event are available for purchase at the door for $10 to attend Thursday only, and $25 to attend only Saturday’s championship bouts.
