The USA Boxing Youth High Performance Team is traveling to Bangkok, Thailand, for the 2026 World Boxing Futures Cup. This event marks the first international competition of the year for the 2026 USA Boxing Youth High Performance Team. The United States will see 17 Youth High Performance boxers, nine males and eight females, hit the ring throughout the week-long World Boxing event, which is slated to begin on Sunday, March 8.<\/p>\n
USA Boxing is excited to see all 17 boxers competing on the international stage next week, 15 of whom will make their international debuts with the Stars and Stripes. Of the 17 athletes named to the 2026 Youth High Performance Team, team captains Angel Blancarte (men\u2019s 85 kg | Hutchinson, Kan.) and Lauryn Elmore (women\u2019s 65 kg | Sacramento, Calif.) are the lone returners on the roster. Blancarte and Elmore enter their second year on the United States Youth national team after securing bronze medals at the 2025 Brandenburg Cup in Germany.<\/p>\n
“We\u2019re feeling great,\u201d Elmore stated as Team USA travels to Bangkok for the 2026 World Boxing Futures Cup. \u201cThis is a new experience, and we\u2019re ready to own our time competing over here in Bangkok, Thailand. This team has the tenacity and skill to win gold, and that is what we all will do with this opportunity in front of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
As for the 15 boxers making their international debuts in Thailand, Marley McNealy (San Francisco, Calif.) will represent Team USA in the women\u2019s 70-kilogram weight division after winning titles in three USA Boxing National Events in 2025, including the 2025 USA Boxing National Championships, which marked her jump from the Junior division to the Youth division. On the Men\u2019s side, Christian Paez (men\u2019s 55 kg | San Antonio, Texas) will make his international debut after an impressive 2025, during which he won the USA Boxing National Open and the USA Boxing National Championships.<\/p>\n
Joining Blancarte and Paez on the Men\u2019s team is Refugio Veloz (men\u2019s 50 kg | Atwater, Calif.), David Arrieta (men\u2019s 60 kg | Kansas City, Mo.), Asaan Jenkins (men\u2019s 65 kg | Washington, D.C.), Asante Lamar (men\u2019s 70 kg | Cincinnati, Ohio), James Gentile (men\u2019s 75 kg | Staten Island, N.Y.), Hadi Almashhadi (men\u2019s 80 kg | Taylor, Mich.), and Caleb Reid (men\u2019s 90+ kg | Palm Bay, Fla.)<\/p>\n
Rounding out the Women\u2019s Team are Ciana Nonhphala (women\u2019s 48 kg | Providence, R.I.), Ruby Lopez (women\u2019s 51 kg | Napa, Calif.), Guadalupe Ruiz (women\u2019s 54 kg | Anaheim, Calif.), Brijhana Epperson (women\u2019s 57 kg | Kansas City, Mo.), Kaylee Aguilar (women\u2019s 60 kg | Houston, Texas) and Ariana Chavez (women\u2019s 75 kg | Rio Rancho, N.M.).<\/p>\n
Competition at the 2026 World Boxing Futures Cup will begin on Sunday, March 8, and end on Sunday, March 15. Tournament brackets and daily bout sheets will be announced by World Boxing on Saturday, March 7, after the conclusion of the tournament draw.<\/p>\n
The USA Boxing Youth High Performance Team is led by National Development Coach Edward Fonteneaux (Fayetteville, N.C.). Fonteneaux will be assisted throughout the year by High Performance Pool coaches, including Holly Gregson (Idaho Falls, Idaho), Jason Hamilton (Spanaway, Wash.), Yessenia Montalvo (Bloomfield, N.J.), and Ronald Wright (Columbus, Ga.).<\/p>\n
Additional tournament information for the 2026 World Boxing Futures Cup, including the tournament draw, daily bout sheets, results, tournament updates, and more, will be uploaded to the event page on the USA Boxing website, where followers can find the\u00a02026 World Boxing Futures Cup event page.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The USA Boxing Youth High Performance Team is traveling to Bangkok, Thailand, for the 2026 World Boxing Futures…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519323,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-519322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}