Team USA Targets Gold at World Boxing Cup: Brazil 2025
Share:
by USA Boxing
Team USA will have 12 boxers competing during the World Boxing Cup: Brazil 2025. This will be Team USA's first international competition since the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and will be a massive test for the Stars and Stripes ahead of the World Championships this September in Liverpool.
Team USA learned its path to gold across 12 weight classes on Sunday as the tournament draw took place before the action gets underway on Monday. Competition will continue throughout the ensuing week with finals competition slated for Saturday, April 5. The USA roster consists of seven males and five females competing in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil.
Three males from Team USA will be in action on the tournament's opening day, two which will make their international debuts, Zamora and Georges. Orlando Zamora, Carlos Flowers, and Malachi Georges will enter the ring on Monday, March 31.
Zamora will represent Team USA first as he will box in the second bout of the day in the 55kg bracket against a Paris Olympian from Australia, Yusuf Chothia. Flowers will follow Zamora and will square off against Australia’s Shannan Davey, another Paris 2024 Olympian. Flowers has had international experience as he competed in a couple of showcases with Canada over the past two years. A 70kg boxer out of Dover, Del., Flowers will go head-to-head with Davey in the ninth bout of Monday’s evening session.
Georges, the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials for Boxing champion, will close out the first day of competition on the male side for Team USA. Georges, a native of Teaneck, N.J., is just 21 years old and will make his international debut on Monday against Brazil's Isaias Filho in the 90 kg bracket. Georges must secure one win to enter the medal round and two wins to secure a gold medal in his bracket.
Tuesday, April 1, will see a two more male USA boxers, as Ramon Ordonez and Kelvin Watts are set to compete in their international debuts. In the afternoon session, Ordonez will box in the No. 18 bout against Poland’s Pawel Brach in the 60 kg weight class. Watts will go up against Abner Junior out of Brazil in the 90+ kg division. If the USA representatives can secure their first international wins, they will advance to their respective medal rounds.
On the women's side, Lisa Greer (W60 kg) and Yoseline Perez (W54 kg) will represent the Stars and Stripes. These two elite boxers have much international experience and will look to advance to the medal round in their brackets. Perez will be the first female boxer to compete for Team USA, and will do so against Australia’s Monique Suraci, another Paris 2024 Olympian. This is expected to be a prestigious matchup as Perez is a rising star for Team USA. The Houston native won gold at the Youth World Championships in 2022. Perez will square off against Suraci on Tuesday, April 1, in the second bout of the afternoon session. Greer will then face Tina Rahimi of Australia in the 60 kg bracket in the evening session on Tuesday, April 1. The Chicago, Ill., native recently won bronze at the 2024 USA Boxing International Open last April.
Two Olympians are set to make their World Boxing Cup debuts on Wednesday, April 2. Alyssa Mendoza (W57 kg) and Jennifer Lozano (W51 kg) will look to begin their Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games journeys with gold medal runs in this tournament. Mendoza will face Julia Szeremeta of Poland in the evening session on Tuesday. The Caldwell, Idaho, native will box in the No. 37 bout. Lozano will square off against Chinese Taipei’s Ching-Yu Shiu in the first round in the 51 kg bracket. Both Mendoza and Lozano enter the World Boxing Cup with plenty of international experience after appearing in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games for Team USA last summer. Both Mendoza and Lozano need just one win each to advance to the medal round in their respective weight divisions.
Dustin Jimenez (M65 kg), Robby 'Rahim' Gonzales (M80 kg), and Morelle McCane (W65 kg) secured byes in their brackets. All three boxers are experienced on the international stage. Gonzales secured a gold medal in the World Championships in 2021, while McCane is one of four Team USA Olympians competing in the World Boxing Cup. McCane earned three medals in 2023, including a silver medal in the Pan American Games.
Jimenez will be the first of these three boxers to compete and will do so against the winner of Guatemala’s Andy Santino Garcia Jerez and Italy’s Gianluigi Malanga. The boxer out of Rochester will compete in the No. 54 bout in the evening session on Tuesday, April 2.
Gonzales will follow Jimenez and will box in the No. 55 bout of the tournament. Gonzales, the 2023 Strandja International Tournament and 2023 Gee Bee International Tournament gold medalist will face the winner between Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Ummataliev and Italy’s Alfred Commey.
McCane earned a bye in the tournament and has stamped a spot in the medal round, meaning she will leave the tournament with at least a bronze medal. She will take on England’s Sacha Hickey out of England on Thursday, April 3, in the No. 74 bout of the day.
Each round of the World Boxing Cup: Brazil 2025 will be broadcast live on the CBBoxe YouTube channel. To watch all the action throughout the week-long tournament, click here.
Team USA Opening Bout Schedules:
Monday, March 31
M55 kg: Orlando Zamora, Turlock, Calif./USA vs. Yusuf Chothia, AUS
M70 kg: Carlos Flowers, Dover, Del./USA vs. Shannan Davey, AUS
M90 kg: Malachi Georges, Teaneck, N.J./USA vs. Isaias Filho, BRA
Tuesday, April 1
M60 kg: Ramon Ordonez, Newark, N.J./USA vs. Pawel Brach, POL
M90+kg: Kelvin Watts, Chesapeake, Va./USA vs. Abner Junior, BRA
W54 kg: Yoseline Perez, Houston, Texas/USA vs. Monique Suraci, AUS
W60 kg: Lisa Greer, Chicago, Ill./USA vs. Tina Rahimi, AUS
Wednesday, April 2
W51 kg: Jennifer Lozano, Laredo, Texas/USA vs. Ching-Yu Shiu, TPE
W57 kg: Alyssa Mendoza, Caldwell, Idaho/USA vs. Julia Szeremeta, POL
M65 kg: Dustin Jimenez, Rochester, N.Y./USA vs. TBD
M80 kg: Robby (Rahim) Gonzales, Las Vegas, Nev./USA vs. TBD
Thursday, April 3
W65 kg: Morelle McCane, Cleveland, Ohio/USA vs. Sacha Hickey, ENG
