Months After Getting Picked as a Sparring Partner at Olympic Center, USA’s Boxing Prodigy Sets Sights on 2024 Paris Spot

The 2024 Olympics are fast approaching and every athlete is racing against time and their national opponents to head to the French capital. A rising American boxing sensation finds himself in the same list of hopefuls as he enters a contest to clinch an Olympics spot.

Dustin Jimenez is an 18-year-old lightweight boxing star. Jimenez had recently been picked to train at the Olympic training center as a sparring partner. However, according to a social media post, he now wants to take a shot at Paris after planting his feet in Colorado Springs.

Teenage boxing champion enters Olympic trials in Los Angeles

Team USA posted a tweet on its official X account announcing the news of Dustin Jimenez participating in the Paris Olympic trials. The tweet carried the caption, “Show up, show out. @USABoxing Olympic hopefuls take the stage at #BoxingTrials24 this week to contend for a chance at a spot on the @Paris2024 team! #RoadToParis.” 

USA Boxing is currently holding Olympic trials at Lafayette in Los Angeles from the 4th to 9th December. The trials will be selecting boxers for seven Olympic weight categories and Dustin Jimenez will compete for the 63.5kg weight class. Interestingly, Jimenez will be the youngest candidate at the trials and will begin his trials campaign against Iowa’s Vershaun Lee.

Dustin Jimenez hails from Rochester, New York, and is the 2022 Youth National Boxing Champion. He made his debut on 3rd August 2019 and has won 20 percent of his bouts via knockouts. Jiminez was invited to the Olympic Training Center at Colorado Springs in August this year. While the teenager is still growing in height and weight at the moment, this was a major growth in his green boxing career.

Training to pack a punch for Paris at Colorado Springs

Dustin Jiminez got an invitation to the prestigious training grounds of Colorado Springs to join as a sparring partner for the Youth High-Performance Team of USA Boxing. Jimenez started helping the team on 10th August for the Brandenburg Cup event in Germany scheduled for September. Today, he will be using all that training for himself. 

While Jimenez will have a lot of eyes watching his boxing trials, he isn’t the only boxer attracting attention in his weight class. Jonathan Mansour has represented the US on the international level and this will be his second Olympic trial after Tokyo. 

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Another boxer named Garrett Rice will also compete in the 63.5kg category. Rice had made an interesting run in the national qualifiers of 2023 and will look forward to extending his momentum in LA. Will Dustin Jimenez be able to rise above the competition and find himself in a ring in Paris after 7 months?

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