USA Boxing’s trio of World champions targeting 2024 Paris Olympics: Jahmal Harvey, Rashida Ellis & Rahim Gonzales

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The reigning U.S. boxing world champions, Maryland featherweight Jahmal Harvey, Massachusetts lightweight Rashida Ellis and Nevada light heavyweight Rahim Gonzales, have decided, albeit for different reasons, to remain amateur boxers from Olympic-style elite instead of joining the professional. ranges

Harvey follows his dream, Ellis takes care of unfinished business, and Gonzales has proven to be a model of perseverance.

“With three world champions currently on the team, USA Boxing is in a great position on the road to Paris 2024,” said USA Boxing High Performance Team Director Matt Johnson. “We have a good mix of fighters, like Rashida and Rahim, who bring years of experience to the table having been with the team for the previous quad. When you combine that with the younger talent of someone like Jahmal, it becomes a very balanced team with several leaders who can show what it takes to be a world-class fighter.”

Today, more than ever, elite boxers remain fans thanks to the USA Boxing program. American boxers receive room and board at the USA Boxing campus in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they train at the state-of-the-art United States Olympic and Paralympic Training Center under the guidance of a world-class coaching staff led by Billy Walsh. Athletes are also provided with a strength and conditioning coach, a nutritionist, and even a publicist. In addition, they receive a comfortable monthly stipend, and some international events now offer purses for the top three finishers, up to $100,000 for World Championship winners.

Like many boxing teams from foreign countries, USA Boxing now provides every incentive for boxers to stay and continue to develop, instead of turning pro simply for money to pay the bills.

Harvey, 19, has been billed by many as America’s next great fighter. He became the first American gold medalist at the World Championships since Demetrious Andrade in 2007. Last November in Serbia, Harvey blanked 2020 Kazakhstan Olympian Serik Temirzanov, 5-0, in the championship final.

“It was great preparation for me in Paris in 2024,” Harvey spoke of his invaluable experience gained at those World Championships. “I was away from home for the first time, two months. I fought in an arena, had a strike and fought for the first time without a helmet. I think that makes you more solid defensively, because you can see the hits coming from your periphery. All the media attention I got there and afterwards will also make me better.”

Harvey, of Oxon Hill, Md., had the chance to turn pro, of course, and receive a lucrative signing bonus, but he’s following his dream of being the first American man to capture an Olympic boxing gold medal since Andrew Ward in 2004.

“I’m really looking forward to being an Olympic gold medalist and building my resume,” Harvey explained. “(The Olympic Games) happen every four years. I’ll probably turn pro after 2024; I am not sure about 2028, if there is Olympic boxing, but it would be at home in the United States (Los Angeles), so I could be persuaded to stay for another cycle.

“It’s always about money. I’m living a stable life right now, but I want to work on my legacy. Get a name before I turn pro (by winning Olympic gold) with my resume, I’ll earn even more when I turn pro and be able to retire quicker. I’ll probably fight at 126-130 as a pro.”

Often compared to Terence “Bud” Crawford and the late Aaron Pryor, Harvey believes the top contenders in his weight class for the 2024 Olympics belong to the same group he fought at the World Championships or the AMBC Elite (Continentals). ) of 2022: Gabriel do Nascimento (Brazil), who defeated (4-1) Harvey (he had won the first two matches against Nascimiento) in the championship final of the 2022 AMBC Elite Tournament, 2020 Olympian No. 1 seed Mirazizbek Mirzakalilov (Uzbekistan), and the silver and bronze medal winners at last year’s World Cup, respectively, Temirzanov (Kazakhstan) and Samuel Kistohuray (France).

Ellis, 27, is the product of a struggling family in Lynn, Massachusetts. His brothers, undefeated welterweight Rashidi (24-0, 15 KOs) and super middleweight Ronald (18-3-2, 12 KOs), are successful professional boxers.

Unlike most members of the 2020 US Olympic Boxing Team, Rashida decided almost immediately after suffering a questionable loss in the first round of the Olympics in Tokyo to go for gold in Paris.

She became the first American boxer to win a gold medal in an Olympic weight class at last May’s World Championships in Turkey since the great Claressa Shields in 2016, beating arch-rival Brazilian Beatriz Ferreira 3-2. , who most recently defeated Ellis, 4-1, at the 2022 AMBC Elite Tournament in March.

“I feel like I deserve it because I’ve been doing this for a while and had suffered some upsets in the finals,” Ellis spoke of her gold medal performance in Turkey. “I fought my game, using my experience, and I was more confident. I knew from the jump that I was going to win the World Cup. She (Ferreira) is my rival and we knew that in the end we would be there. I boxed and I moved, she likes to put you on the ropes and rough you up. When you box and move, she’s in trouble because she has flat feet and then she gets frustrated. Everyone there knew that she had won because she had landed more punches.

“The World Cup was an opportunity to see who is in our division. I knew it would be her and me. Unless something shocking happens, it will be her and me for Olympic gold in Paris.”

Ellis has been fighting for 16 years and could have turned pro after his disappointing finish in Tokyo. She thought her resume would be even more impressive in 4 years, especially if she’s wearing an Olympic gold medal, and the time to turn pro wasn’t right for her.

“Honestly, after the Olympics, I made the decision to stay amateur, because I’m going to get gold in Paris,” Ellis added. “Today, female boxers earn as much money as professionals. Instead of turning pro and fighting a few times a year, I figured 4 more years in the amateurs, and I’ll have a better resume to jump into the pros. It will change my life. I’ll have to get a good manager when I turn pro and I’ll probably move to California where a lot of the best fighters are. I can’t wait to go to Paris! I have never been. If we don’t get a chance to see enough there, I’ll stay a few more days to enjoy Paris.”

A resident of the boxing capital of the world, Las Vegas, Gonzales, 26, is the only American to win gold medals at last year’s World Championships and at the 2022 AMBC Elite Tournament in Ecuador. He defeated Aliaksei Alfiorau (Bulgaria), 3-2, at the World Championship, 4-1 over Isais Ribeiro (Brazil) on AMBC Elite.

“(Winning a gold medal) was really cool because I went through a lot with COVID and didn’t compete in the (2020) Olympics,” Gonzales said. “I went to the World Championships to compete, experience the Worlds and then turn pro. I never thought I would win and just wanted to put it on my resume. Winning it all was a dream come true. Something in my gut said, don’t let me regret it if I turn professional.

“The main reason I started boxing was to be an Olympic athlete. I thought that if I won the World Cup, I could do it in the Olympics. I am more confident after those championships and learned how to get the job done. If I can work hard, I can do it; I know what I have to do. Now I struggled under the bright lights and finished the job. When I am professional, I will be 28 years old, but I will not need many fights. I think I can start in 8 or 10 round fights and go for a title early. I am fighting professionals now. Many fighters from abroad, especially in Europe, are already professionals.

Gonzales is a grinder who has overcome several disappointments that would have derailed other boxers who would have already turned pro.

“The first time (I could have been an Olympian),” Gonzales said, “I wasn’t focused enough or as focused as I am now or in 2020. I was only 19 years old. The second time (2020 Tokyo), I won the Olympic Trials, but I didn’t have enough international points, and the Qualifiers were canceled due to COVID. We couldn’t leave the country to compete because the United States was in the red zone. And my father made me take courses (instead of competing in other tournaments to earn points). He motivated me for the World Championships, saying: ‘When you lose, what’s the excuse?’ It took me a while to understand, I took it personally wondering why he had told me that. But it was like a metaphor… I realized that he was actually saying no excuses.

“Right now, I am training in the evaluation camp to be on the US team in 2023. If I can win the World Cup (2022) and the Pan Am Games, maybe some other international matches, I will have enough points to qualify. for the Olympic Games (2024 in Paris). Everyone is good at this level and I have a target on me because I am number 1. Now, I have to continue being number 1.”

The easy move for any of these gifted fighters would have been to turn pro, get a signing bonus, and battle tomato cans for a couple of years to build their records.

However, Harvey, Ellis and Gonzales have taken advantage of USA Boxing, accepting the challenge of staying in Olympic-style boxing, benefiting from fighting opponents from around the world against their various styles, and eventually buying jewelry in Paris. to get gold. .

Two of USA Boxing’s “Fantastic Trio” are scheduled to compete at the USA Boxing International Invitationals beginning today (September 12-15) at the Pueblo Convention Center in Pueblo, Colorado. The best elite boxers will compete from 6 different countries, including the United States, China, Germany and the Philippines, with Olympians and World Championship medalists.

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