The day after the Paris Olympics closed last year, USA Boxing already had its eyes set on Los Angeles for the 2028 Olympics. After an Olympic campaign that saw the United States bring home just one medal, a bronze earned by Omari Jones, a complete analysis had to be undertaken. USA Boxing Executive Director Mike McAtee wanted to know, how could they do better?
“We conducted internal discussions. We brought in a third-party coach to interview our boxers, our coaches, our staff, and see how we could better prepare our boxers. That process literally started last year,” said McAtee.
The United States has historically been the best boxing country at the Olympics, winning a total of 118 medals - including 50 golds - since boxing was added to the Olympic program in 1904. That dominance hasn’t been evident in recent years, as the country hasn’t had a gold medalist since Claressa Shields won back-to-back golds in 2012 and 2016, and hasn’t had a male gold medalist in over 20 years, since Andre Ward won his in 2004.
McAtee and team have one particular mission in mind: dominate in Los Angeles.
“Part of the High Performance mission is placing boxers at the top of the podium. What does that mean? Quite frankly that means to be the best boxing country in LA. We’re going to be the best in the world. That’s the goal and that’s the mind frame that we’re moving on,” said McAtee.
A year after the Olympics, the High Performance team has just one boxer returning - 2021 amateur world champion Robby Gonzales - on the men’s squad, while all four of the female Olympians - Jennifer Lozano, Alyssa Mendoza, Jajaira Gonzalez and Morelle McCane - have returned.
That means just one of their boxers - Gonzales - had any experience competing without headgear, as is the norm on the international stage.
“Because of the way our culture is, we’re lucky to get two Olympic cycles out of our boxers. Whereas other countries get multiple Olympic cycles out of them. We have to pack in generally 4-5 years of international boxing experience within 3 years,” said McAtee.
“The average age [of the team] is 18-21 there, so they may be boxing 10-12 years but their international boxing age is 3 months, whereas you can run into a boxer from another federation that has boxing internationally 6-7 years.”
While pressure and expectations are sure to be higher for the first Olympic Games on American soil since 1996, McAtee is quick to describe the realities of amateur boxing in 2025. While other top boxing countries like Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have seemingly unlimited government funding, USA Boxing has to be self-sufficient and raise money for its own activities. Approximately 75 percent of their annual funding comes from membership dues, says McAtee, with another 19 percent coming from the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee, while the rest comes from a sponsorship base that has grown from four when McAtee assumed his position eight years ago to about a dozen in 2025.
Their annual budget for the high performance squad is $2.2 million - which includes coaches salaries - which doesn’t leave a lot of room for international competition. USA Boxing will have four international competitions this year, which includes the already concluded World Boxing Cup in Brazil, which took place in April, and World Boxing Challenge Grand Prix in Czech Republic, which wrapped up last week. The next two competitions will be the second World Boxing Cup in Kazakhstan at the end of the month, followed by the World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England in September.
While USA Boxing placed tenth at the World Cup with four bronzes and a silver, the team was composed mostly of international debutants. The team fared better in the Czech Republic, with Yoseline Perez and Alyssa Mendoza earning golds, while seven others medaled.
In addition to traveling abroad for competition and training camps, USA Boxing is hoping to create opportunities for international boxers to visit the United States as well. A team from Uzbekistan - including boxers with a few pro bouts of experience - visited for the International Open in Colorado this past April, while a number of international amateurs, including a team from Scotland, is in Las Vegas to compete against American amateurs at this week’s Summer Festival.
Though few are expecting a repeat of the boycott-boosted 1984 team this time around in Los Angeles, McAtee believes that getting American boxers to box against as many styles from around the world will serve to boost the country’s success abroad.
“[USA Boxing Head Coach] Billy Walsh says it best, ‘Americans like to be the champion of America; 380 million which is pretty dang good. The rest of the world is competing to be champions of the world, 8 billion.’” said McAtee.
“We can’t just box here in the United States against boxers that our team and squad members have already beaten. They’re not gonna get better. That’s why our mindset is, we’re going to box the world leading up to boxing the world.”