Team USA Targets Strong Start to 2026 World Boxing Rankings at World Boxing Cup: Brazil

The USA Boxing Elite High Performance Team is set to compete at its second international tournament in 2026. Team USA will have 13 boxers competing in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, for the first World Boxing Cup - Stage 1. USA Boxing will have seven women and six men enter the ring in Brazil, which will be hosted at the Rafain Palace Hotel. The tournament competition will take place from April 20 through April 26, following the Technical Meeting and Tournament Draw on Sunday, April 19.

This event will mark the first competition to provide ranking points for Team USA and World Boxing competitors in 2026. The United States earned seven medals at the 77th International Boxing Tournament: Strandja 2026. At that event, Team USA secured one gold medal, one silver medal and five bronze medals.

Lorenzo Patricio (55 kilograms) is looking to carry the momentum from his impressive silver-medal run at the 77th International Boxing Tournament: Strandja 2026. The Hawaii native made his elite international debut in Sofia, Bulgaria, and secured four wins, and will now look to earn his first elite international gold in Brazil. Patricio was a two-time gold medalist in the Youth Division, winning at the 2025 Brandenburg Cup and the 2024 World Boxing U19 Championships.

Also coming off a bronze medal run with Team USA at the 77th International Boxing Tournament: Strandja 2026 are Yoseline Perez (54 kilograms), Alyssa Mendoza (57 kilograms), Simona Winkler (70 kilograms), and Naomi Graham (75 kilograms).

Perez was Team USA’s most dominant boxer in 2025 after winning silver at the 2025 World Boxing Championships. She competed in each international tournament for the United States last year and never finished with less than a silver medal in 2025.

Mendoza, a Paris 2024 Olympian, concluded 2025 with a gold medal at the Grand Prix Usti Nad Labem in the Czech Republic. Graham is a Tokyo 2020 Olympian and fought her way to the quarterfinals at the 2025 World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England. Winkler enters the tournament with her first international medal and a wave of momentum.

Rounding out Team USA’s men’s contingent in Brazil are Salim Ellis-Bey (60 kilograms), Marcus Luther (65 kilograms), Tyric Trapp (80 kilograms), Malachi Georges (90 kilograms) and Kelvin Watts (90+ kilograms). Trapp and Georges were elevated from the Elite High Performance Squad to compete in place of Robby Gonzales and Joseph Awinongya, respectively. Team USA's 77th International Boxing Tournament: Strandja 2026 gold medalist Lavant Brownlee will also miss the first World Boxing Cup - Stage 1 event due to an injury.

In addition to Perez, Mendoza, Winkler and Graham, the United States’ women’s roster will feature Noelle Haro (51 kilograms), Alisha Crockett (60 kilograms) and Marie-Angelis Rosendo (65 kilograms). Haro will make her Team USA and international debut in Brazil after earning a position on the team earlier this year.

USA Boxing will be led at the World Boxing Cup: Brazil 2026 by Head Coach Billy Walsh (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and assisted by National Development Coach Edward Fonteneaux (Fayetteville, N.C.) and Elite High Performance Coach Nikki Burleson (Oklahoma City, Okla.). In addition to Walsh, Fonteneaux and Burleson, Elite High Performance pool coach Billy Rafalko (Philadelphia, Pa.) will also assist in the coaching efforts in Brazil.

Fans can stay updated on the USA Boxing High Performance Team at the World Boxing Cup Brazil 2026 on the USA Boxing website. Brackets, broadcast information, daily schedules and daily results will be updated on the World Boxing Cup Brazil 2026 event page.