Paris, France – Top-seeded super heavyweight Joshua Edwards (Houston, Texas), a crowd favorite, entered the ring to chants of “USA, USA” from the enthusiastic crowd, marking his Olympic debut early Monday morning. Unfortunately, his quest for gold ended in an upset against Italy’s Diego Lenzi in a closely fought match. Edwards was down 4-1 after the first round but rallied by winning the second and third rounds, 3-2. Despite his strong comeback, it wasn’t enough, as he ultimately lost by points in a 3-1 split decision. (View Highlights)
Later in the afternoon, Jajaira Gonzalez (Glendora, California) faced Brazil’s Beatriz Iasmin Soares Ferreira in the Round of 16. Gonzalez put up a strong fight throughout the match and refused to go down quietly, but ultimately fell to the Brazilian by unanimous decision.
Prior to Gonzalez’s loss, she secured Team USA’s first victory in the competition by defeating France’s 2016 gold medalist Estelle Mossely.
In another thrilling match, Roscoe Hill from Spring, Texas, demonstrated his resilience and skill against Omid Ahmadisafa of the Refugee Olympic Team in the 51kg boxing preliminary round. The bout was tightly contested as an aggressive Ahmadisafa brought the pressure in the second round, but Hill clinched victory by winning the final round on all five judges’ scorecards, advancing to the last 16.
“He came all hard so I had to stay patient,” Hill said. “Once I stayed patient all my skills came out. My style is very unpredictable. You never know now, I may go up, I may go down. It keeps my opponent thinking at all times.”
Roscoe Hill will return to the ring for Team USA on Tuesday, July 29th, for his second tournament appearance. He will take on France’s Billal Bennama, beginning at 5 AM ET.
Team USA will also see Alyssa Mendoza make her Olympic debut on Tuesday, July 29th, at approximately 11:38 AM ET. Mendoza, Team USA’s youngest current boxing competitor at 20 years old, will go up against Tajikistan’s Mijgona Samadova.
