With the opportunities to qualify for the Olympics drawing to a close six US men’s boxers are still looking for their berth and are off to Baku, Azerbaijan in pursuit of that this weekend. Antonio Vargas (52kg), Gary Russell (64kg), Paul Kroll (69kg), Jonathan Esquivel (81kg), Cam F. Awesome (91kg), and Marlo Moore (+91kg) will look to join the four US men who have already qualified for Rio. Vargas, Russell, Kroll, and Esquivel are competing in weight classes where more fighters will be in the Olympics. Therefore they can reach the Olympics by finishing in the top five of this tournament. Things aren’t so easy for Awesome and Moore who compete in weight classes with smaller spots in the Olympics and thus they need to win in Baku.

Preliminaries start Thursday and run through Tuesday to narrow fields down to eight in each weight class for quarterfinals that will take place on Tuesday and Thursday of next week. Only Kroll will be competing for the US on the first day of competition.