Boxing recap, Aug. 3: Jones to make history, last U.S. boxer standing in Paris

Team USA’s Omari Jones R16 bout – Credit: NBC Olympics

Team USA’s welterweight Omari Jones defeated Bulgaria’s unseeded Rami Kiwan in their quarterfinal bout at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Saturday, ensuring (at least) a bronze medal — and setting up a semifinal bout with Uzbekistani Asadkhuja Muydinkhujaev.

Boxing is one of the rare Olympic sports that awards two bronze medals per contested event — one for each losing semifinalist on opposing sides of the bracket.

Hours later, featherweight Jahmal Harvey — the 21-year-old who had won World Boxing Championship gold in 2021 — lost a hard-fought quarterfinal to Kyrgyzstan’s Munarbek Uulu. After receiving a bye through the Round of 32, Harvey defeated Brazil’s Luiz Oliveira by split decision on Thursday.

RESULTS

SEE MORE: Team USA’s Harvey downs Oliveira, books boxing QF spot

Jones, 21, will become the first American welterweight since Kenneth Gould at the 1988 Seoul Olympics to claim a medal in men’s 71kg/156lb weight class.

Which medal, however, remains unclear: If he loses his semifinal bout against Muydinkhujaev (the 2023 Boxing World Championship gold medalist), Jones is awarded bronze. Should he win that fight and proceed to the final — where he’d face either Great Britain’s Lewis Richardson or Mexico’s No. 2 seed, Marco Verde — the American would either serve as the weight classes’ runner-up or its victor.

Put simply: Winning the Aug. 8 semifinal earns Jones Olympic silver. Winning the Aug. 10 final makes him an Olympic champion.

SEE MORE: Boxing 101: Olympic rules, regulations and scoring

Finally, 2024 Paris Olympics boxing semifinals took place Saturday — with women’s lightweights (60kg/132lbs) the first to determine who will compete in the finals.

On one side of the bracket, No. 1 seed Yang Wenlu of China scored a unanimous victory over Taiwan’s Wu Shih-yi. The opposite side of the bracket saw Ireland’s reigning gold medalist Kellie Harrington defeat Brazil’s Beatriz Ferreira, 4-1.

Harrington and Yang square off for gold on Tuesday, August 6. Despite their semifinal losses, Wu Shih-yi and Ferreira will both receive Olympic bronze for their achievements.