Fight Times & Opponents for USA Boxing Members
The 2012 London Olympics boxing draw was held on Friday afternoon. This is crucially important, as it determines which fighters are facing one another in the early stages of the tournament. Quite simply, an underdog could theoretically skate past the toughest competition until the medal rounds, or alternatively, be stacked up against one of the big guns early on, making his or her road that much more challenging. With the draw for the Olympic boxing tournament completed, here’s a run down of who and when the Team USA boxers are fighting.
Quick notes
- Three US Olympic boxers have first round byes – Men’s flyweight Rau’shee Warren, women’s flyweight Marlen Esparza and women’s middleweight Claressa Shields
- The United States is represented in 12 of 13 divisions
- All Olympic boxing matches will be live streamed online when you can’t find them on your television
Team USA Flyweight Rau’Shee Warren – Fights Friday, August 3rd at 3:30 pm Eastern
Warren has a first round bye at Flyweight. He’ll face the winner of a match between Nordine Oubaali of France and Ajmal Faisal of Afghanistan. If the favorites keep winning, he would go on to face Michael Conlan of Ireland in his second match.
Team USA Bantamweight Joseph Diaz Jr. – Fights Saturday, July 28 at 8:30 am Eastern
Diaz faces Pavlo Ishchenko of the Ukraine in his opening match. That’s fine, however, should he win he faces Cuba’s Lazaro Alvarez in the second round. Alvarez is the favorite to win gold in the division, and Diaz will be extremely hard pressed to get past him.
Team USA Lightweight Jose Ramirez – Fights Sunday, July 29 at 4:30 pm Eastern
Ramirez is slated to meet France’s Rachid Azzedine in the first round of the lightweight field.
Team USA Light Welterweight Jamel Herring – Fights Tuesday, July 31 at 10:30 am Eastern
Team Captain Jamel Herring meets Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Yeleussinov in the first round. A win there places him in a second round match-up against the winner of Spain’s Jonathan Alonso Flete vs. Iran’s Mehdi Toloutibandpi.
Team USA Welterweight Errol Spence – Fights Sunday, July 29 at 5 pm Eastern
Spence has a fairly tough first round match against Mike Ribeiro de Carvalho of Brazil in the first round. A win there places him in a second round match against India’s Krishan Vikas, coming off an opening match bye. That’ll be another tough and competitive bout.
Team USA Middleweight Terrell Gausha – Fights Saturday, July 28 at 5:15 pm Eastern
Gausha gets a first round match against veteran Armenian Andranik Hakobyan. If he wins there, he could be in a second round dog fight against returning bronze medalist Vijender Singh from India.
Team USA Light Heavyweight Marcus Browne – Fights Monday, July 30 at 10:45 am Eastern
Browne has one of the toughest draws of any USA boxing member. He faces Australian’s Damien Hooper in the opening match, a challenging contest. The winner is lucky enough to face Russia’s Egor Mekhontsev, coming off a bye. Mekhontsev took a bronze at the recent World Championships, and a gold in 2009 when he was at heavyweight.
Team USA Heavyweight Michael Hunter – Fights Wednesday, August 1 at 9:30 am Eastern
Hunter faces talented Russian Artur Beterbiev in the first round. Worse, should he advance he faces top dog Oleksandr Usyk in the second round. Usyk is the defending world champion, making Hunter’s road daunting to say the least.
Team USA Super Heavyweight Dominic Breazeale – Fights Wednesday, August 1 at 10:30 am Eastern
Fighting one hour after Hunter does, Breazeale also begins his tournament with a tough slate. He faces Russia’s Magomed Omarov, and then should he advance, he gets the right to likely face Magomedrasul Medzhidov in the second round, the division’s favorite.
Women’s Olympic Boxing Draw
Team USA Flyweight Marlen Esparza – Fights Monday, August 6 at 8:45 am Eastern
Esparza has a first round bye in the division. In the second round, she’ll face the winner of the match between Erica Matos of Brazil and Karlha Magliocco of Venezuela. A trip to the third round sees her likely facing world champion Ren Cancan of China, in what would be a semi-finals match, ensuring a bronze to the loser.
Team USA Lightweight Queen Underwood – Fights Sunday, August 5 at 9:30 am Eastern
Underwood has a first round bout against the UK’s Natasha Jonas. Winning that match sees her square off against her rival, the world’s top female amateur fighter, Ireland’s Katie Taylor. Tough draw for Underwood having to meet Taylor in just the second round.
Team USA Middleweight Claressa Shields – Fights Monday, August 6 at 10:45 am Eastern
Shields gets a first round bye, leading her to a match between the winner of Naomi-Lee Fischer-Ramussen of the UK and Anna Laurell of Sweden’s. A win there puts her in the semi-finals, likely against division favorite Savannah Marshall.
Thanks for checking out all of our coverage on the Olympic boxing draw results, as well as the fight times and opponents for every US Olympic boxer.
