Team USA stayed undefeated through the first three days of competition in Busto Arsizio, Italy, at the 2024 Olympic Games World Qualifier Tournament, as Emilio Garcia (Laredo, Texas) and Omari Jones (Orlando, Fla.) took care of business with impressive wins to advance to the next round of competition.
Garcia represented the USA first today as he fought against Ahmad Shtiwi of Israel. Using his combinations and listening to his coaches in the blue corner, Garcia won the first round from the judges, 5-0. Shtiwi tried to change the tide and put pressure on Garcia early in the second round, but Garcia didn’t fold and delivered multiple right hooks to the Israeli boxer and won the second round, 4-1. Shtiwi won three judges’ cards in the final round, but it was too late as the American boxer won unanimously.
Garcia will now face the 2023 World Championships silver medalist from Cuba, Erislandy Alvarez. Alvarez, who is 3-0 in his professional career, has also won numerous international medals in 2023 alongside his World Championships medal, including a gold at the Cologne Boxing Cup and silver medals at the Central American and Caribbean Games. The two will go head-to-head on Thursday, March 7.
Jones, having to wait until the last bout of the day, did not disappoint in closing the day’s action against Allaksandr Radzionau, an Individual Neutral Athlete who competed at the 2020 Olympics.
The American light middleweight picked up the first round from the judges, controlling the entire round with his jab and one-two combinations, and didn’t look back. Jones stepped it up in the second round, landing strong jabs to the body and side steps to once again take all five judges’ cards, including two 10-8 scores, before securing Team USA’s fourth unanimous decision of the tournament in the final round.
Jones will join Garcia on Thursday, as he will face Mohamed Rachem of Belgium, who advanced to face the 2021 Elite World Championship silver medalist by a split decision victory over Montenegro’s Stefan Savkovic.
Eight boxers arrived in Italy representing Team USA, hoping to punch their ticket to this summer’s 2024 Paris Olympic Games under USA Boxing National Head Coach Billy Walsh (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Joining Walsh on the coaching staff are National Resident Coach Timothy Nolan (Rochester, N.Y.), National Development Coach Chad Wigle (Colorado Springs, Colo.) along with assistant coaches Adonis Frazier (Minneapolis, Minn.) and Christine Lopez (Rowlett, Texas).
The tournament is one of the largest Olympic qualifiers in the history of boxing, with over 600 boxers from 113 nations competing at the E-Work Arena, hoping to grab one of the 49 quota places available for this summer’s Games.
