Boxing at the 2024 Paris Olympics: Weekend Preview

The pairings for all 13 boxing events at the 2024 Paris Olympics have been determined. Fighters from 68 different countries will compete in the first matches, with only half of them advancing to the next round. It's important to note that not every weight class will have an equal number of participants and not all fighters will be competing this weekend.

Many boxing matches start with 32 competitors, but some weight classes have fewer participants. Men's flyweight, heavyweight, and super heavyweight, as well as women's middleweight, competitions start with only 16 fighters. This weekend, only the heavyweight fighters will be stepping into the ring to fight on Sunday.

The super heavyweight fighters will have to wait until Monday before they can battle it out. The men's flyweights and women's featherweights, who weigh 57 kg/125 lbs, will not start throwing punches for gold until Tuesday.

Exciting American Knockouts To See

Eight American athletes are competing in the City of Light, Paris, and all of them are competing in the Olympics for the first time.

Jajaira Gonzalez from Glendora, California, who weighs in at 60 kg/132 lbs, is leading the way in this match. She will be facing off against Estelle Mossely from France on Saturday at 3:20 PM Eastern Time.

Fellow teammates Jennifer Lozano (flyweight), Alyssa Mendoza (featherweight), and Morelle McCane (welterweight, 66kg/145 lbs) will all be participating in competitions this coming Sunday.

Three out of four American men, including Roscoe Hill in the flyweight division, Jahmal Harvey in the featherweight division, and Omari Jones in the welterweight division (weighing 71 kg/146 lbs), will compete across Sunday.

Joshua Edwards, a heavyweight fighter from Houston who is 24 years old, will face off against Diego Lenzi from Italy on Monday.

"Rivalries Return, Setting Up Epic Battles"

The current super heavyweight champion from Uzbekistan, Bakhodir Jalolov, was placed in the same quarter as Australian boxer Teremoana Junior after the boxing draw was announced at the North Paris Arena on Thursday.

Jalolov from Uzbekistan, who is a champion at the 2023 world and 2022 Asian Games, defeated Teremoana on his way to winning the gold medal at the World Championship in Tashkent last year.

The duo will face off again in the quarterfinals, and Teremoana is determined to come out on top. "If anyone is going to feel nervous, it will be him, not me," Teremoana confidently stated to the press.

Another up-and-coming competitor to watch is Britain's talented athlete, Delicious Orie, who is set to compete against Davit Chaloyan from Armenia, who won the silver medal at the 2021 world championships.

Julio Cesar La Cruz, who won gold in light heavyweight at the 2016 Rio Games and in heavyweight at the 2021 Tokyo Games, is starting his journey towards a third gold medal. His first opponent is Loren Alfonso from Azerbaijan. La Cruz, a Cuban athlete, will be competing in the heavyweight division.

The gold medalist in the light flyweight category at the Rio Olympics, Hasanboy Dusmatov, may face off against Juanma Lopez from Puerto Rico in the second round of the flyweight division.

In the women's competition, Kellie Harrington, the current lightweight champion, starts with a pass to the next round. Harrington, who is from Ireland, is on the same side of the bracket as Beatriz Ferreira from Brazil, the Pan American Games winner, whom she defeated in the final at the Tokyo Olympics.

In another location, welterweight boxer Busenaz Surmeneli, who won Turkey's first boxing gold in Tokyo, may face off against Imane Khelif of Algeria in the semifinals of the world championships.

Two boxers were not able to participate in the match. Ethiopia's Fikremariam Yadesa Leta did not have the right paperwork. Tugrulhan Erdemir from Turkiye was replaced by German Magomed Schachidov because of a temporary suspension for doping that was confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

(Further reporting by Reuters)

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