Boxing has been at every Olympics since 1912 and has given us some big moments for some of Boxing’s biggest names. Oscar de la Hoya, a young Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali), Joe Frazier, and George Foreman all won Gold for the United States.  In all there have been 48 gold medals in Boxing for the United States and 110 total medals.  While the men have the historic legacy to look back at. this will be the first Olympics to include women’s boxing.

The Team:

This year’s team is made up of nine men and three women. Only one of these, Rau’shee Warren, has been to the Olympics before. Warren, who qualified for Athens as a 17-year old, is making his 3rd Olympic trip, something no American boxer has ever done before.

Links are to twitter accounts for the athletes.

USA Boxing
Men:
Rau’shee Warren – Flyweight
Joseph Diaz – Bantamweight
Jose Ramírez – Lightweight
Jamel Herring – Light Welterwight
Errol Spence – Welterweight
Terrell Gausha – Middleweight
Marcus Browne – Light Heavyweight
Michael Hunter – Heavyweight
Dominic Breazeale – Super Heavyweight

Women:
Marlen Esparza – Flyweight
Queen Underwood – Lightweight
Claressa Shields – Middleweight

Schedule:

The boxing tournaments are single-elimination and feature five or four rounds (depending on the event).  A bout is three rounds and scored based off of successful punches over the entire bout. This makes for exciting quick bouts where both boxers must go for it right away. Bronze medals are awarded to both boxers who lose the semifinal matches.

All Times ET
Saturday July 28th
8:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Bantamweight – Round of 32
10 AM – Men’s Boxing – Middleweight – Round of 32
3:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Bantamweight – Round of 32
5 PM – Men’s Boxing – Middleweight – Round of 32

Sunday July 29th
8:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Lightweight – Round of 32
10 AM – Men’s Boxing – Welterweight – Round of 32
3:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Lightweight – Round of 32
5 PM – Men’s Boxing – Welterweight – Round of 32

Monday July 30th
8:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Flyweight – Round of 32
9:45 AM – Men’s Boxing – Light Heavyweight – Round of 32
3:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Flyweight – Round of 32
4:45 PM – Men’s Boxing – Light Heavyweight – Round of 32

Tuesday July 31st
9:45 AM – Men’s Boxing – Light Welterweight – Round of 32
4:45 PM – Men’s Boxing – Light Welterweight – Round of 32

Wednesday August 1st
8:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Bantamweight – Round of 16
9:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Heavyweight – Round of 16
10:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Super Heavyweight – Round of 16
3:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Bantamweight – Round of 16
4:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Heavyweight – Round of 16
5:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Super Heavyweight – Round of 16

Thursday August 2nd
8:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Lightweight – Round of 16
9:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Middleweight – Round of 16
3:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Lightweight – Round of 16
4:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Middleweight – Round of 16

Friday August 3rd
8:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Flyweight – Round of 16
9:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Welterweight – Round of 16
3:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Flyweight – Round of 16
4:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Welterweight – Round of 16

Saturday August 4th
9:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Light Welterweight – Round of 16
10:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Light Heavyweight – Round of 16
4:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Light Welterweight – Round of 16
5:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Light Heavyweight – Round of 16

Sunday August 5th
8:30 AM – Women’s Flyweight – Round of 16
9:30 AM – Women’s Lightweight – Round of 16
10:30 AM – Women’s Middleweight – Round of 16
3:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Bantamweight – Quarterfinals
4:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Heavyweight – Quarterfinals

Monday August 6th
8:30 AM – Women’s Flyweight – Quarterfinals
9:30 AM – Women’s Lightweight – Quarterfinals
10:30 AM – Women’s Middleweight – Quarterfinals
3:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Lightweight – Quarterfinals
4:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Middleweight – Quarterfinals
5:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Super Heavyweight – Quarterfinals

Tuesday August 7th
3:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Flyweight – Quarterfinals
4:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Welterweight – Quarterfinals

Wednesday August 8th
8:30 AM – Women’s Flyweight – Semifinals
9 AM – Women’s Lightweight – Semifinals
9:30 AM – Women’s Middleweight – Semifinals
4:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Light Welterweight – Quarterfinals
5:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Light Heavyweight – Quarterfinals

Thursday August 9th
11:30 AM – Women’s Flyweight – Final
11:45 AM – Women’s Lightweight – Final
12:15 PM – Women’s Middleweight – Final

Friday August 10th
9 AM – Men’s Boxing – Bantamweight – Semifinals
9:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Light Welterweight – Semifinals
10 AM – Men’s Boxing – Middleweight – Semifinals
10:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Heavyweight – Semifinals
3:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Flyweight – Semifinals
4 PM – Men’s Boxing – Lightweight – Semifinals
4:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Welterweight – Semifinals
5 PM – Men’s Boxing – Light Heavyweight – Semifinals
5:30 PM – Men’s Boxing – Super Heavyweight – Semifinals

Saturday August 11th
3:45 PM – Men’s Boxing – Bantamweight – Final
4:15 PM – Men’s Boxing – Light Welterweight – Final
4:45 PM – Men’s Boxing – Middleweight – Final
5:15 PM – Men’s Boxing – Heavyweight – Final

Sunday August 12th
8:30 AM – Men’s Boxing – Flyweight – Final
8:45 AM – Men’s Boxing – Lightweight – Final
9:15 AM – Men’s Boxing – Welterweight – Final
9:45 AM – Men’s Boxing – Light Heavyweight – Final
10:15 AM – Men’s Boxing – Super Heavyweight – Final

Past Results:

As mentioned at the start, the US has had great success in past Olympics. An outlier was the US performance in Beijing where only Deontay Wilder, a heavyweight, medaled. Wilder won the bronze when he lost to Clemente Russo of Italy.  In addition to Wilder only one other boxer made the quarterfinals.  Rau’shee Warren lost in the first round to Oksung Lee in Beijing, a disappointing result in his second Olympic trip.

In 2004 the US won a gold when Andre Ward, a light heavyweight, beat Magomed Aripgadjiev of Belarus in the final. Andre Dirrell, competing as a Middleweight, won the bronze when he lost to Gennadiy Golovkin of Kazakhstan.  Rau’shee Warren lost in the first round to Zou Shiming of China in his first Olympic bout. Two Americans other than Dirrell and Ward made the quarterfinals, and no American other than Warren lost in the first round.

2000 was a great year for the Americans as they won two bronze medals and two silver medals.  1996 was another strong year as the US won five bronze medals (including one by Floyd “no money yet” Mayweather Jr.) and a gold. 1992 featured a gold (Oscar de la Hoya) , a silver, and a bronze.  You have to go all the way back to 1988 to find the last time the US won multiple gold medals in a single Olympics. that year the Us won three gold, three silver and two bronze medals. It was a remarkable haul that saw the US medal in eight of the 12 events.

Rau’shee Warren has shown the ability to compete Internationally before having won the Gold in 2007 at the World Amateur Championship. He finished 3rd in the latest championship, in Baku, Azerbaijan. Joseph Diaz was able to make the quarterfinals at that championship to earn his spot, and is only 18 years old.  19-year old Jose Ramírez was only able to get to the 2nd round in Baku, but finished 4th in the American (North and South) tournament to qualify for London.  Jamel Herring, a 26-year old Marine boxer, didn’t advance out of the 1st round in Baku, but also finished 4th in the American tournament to qualify. 22-year old Errol Spence had a strong run in Baku before losing in the quarterfinals, qualifying him for London. Terrell Gausha, a 24-year old, was unseeded in the USA Olympic Trials but went all the way, winning the tournament. He then went to the American tournament and proceeded to win that as well. He’s definitely carrying a lot of momentum into London. Marcus Browne was able to make the 3rd round in Baku, but a loss there cost him a chance to qualify for London. Browne then went to the American tournament and was able to qualify, winning the Light heavyweight division. Michael Hunter, America’s Heavyweight, earned his spot in a similar manner by winning the American qualifying tournament too. The final member of the American team, the Super Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale, is surprisingly a former quarterback at Northern Colorado. Breazeale qualified when he finished 3rd at the American tournament.

On the women’s side, Marlen Esparza, who despite being only 22, has already won a bronze medal at a world championship six years ago, made the quarterfinals of the world championship this year to make the Olympics.  Quanitta Underwood lost in the Round of 16 at the world championship by a single point to Ingrid Egner of Norway. She was rewarded for her strong performance by receiving an invitation to the Olympics.  Claressa Shields, only 17 and still in high school, was knocked out in the 2nd round at the world championship by Savannah Marshall of England (who went on to win the tournament) but was still able to qualify for the Olympics thanks to advancing as far as anyone else from the Americas.

Once again it looks like  Rau’shee Warren will be the best chance the US has at a medal, being the only one to medal at the World Championships during the last year. Hopefully some of the other boxers from the US can make a good run at the games as well echoing something many great American boxers have done over the years.