USA Boxing\u2019s Elite High Performance Squad is off to a red-hot start in Helsinki, Finland, for the 2026 Gee Bee Boxing Tournament. Team USA secured its first two medals of the tournament after Dustin Jimenez (65 kilograms) and Alexis Proctor (65 kilograms) earned unanimous decision victories.<\/p>\n
The United States went undefeated with three victories on Thursday, beginning with Jayshannet Zapata (54 kilograms). The New York native made her international debut against Scotland\u2019s Stephanie Kemacha, and after winning the first two rounds 4-1 each, she secured her first international win via a 3-2 decision. Zapata moves on to the quarterfinals, where she will now face Switzerland\u2019s\u00a0Miette Bagutti in bout four on Friday, beginning at approximately 5:45 a.m ET.<\/p>\n
Following Zapata\u2019s victory, Alexis Proctor (65 kilograms) also secured her first international victory for the United States after earning a 5-0 victory over Sweden\u2019s\u00a0Dina Daoud. Proctor punched her ticket into the semifinals with the performance, securing her first international medal in the process. She will now face Norway\u2019s Madeleine Angelsen on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Rounding out day one for the Stars and Stripes was Dustin Jimenez (65 kilograms), who returned to international competition in dominant fashion after earning Team USA\u2019s second 5-0 victory of the day and the first international win of his amateur career. Jimenez won every judge’s vote in all three rounds, including a 10-8 score in the third round over Norway\u2019s Yusup Jama Yusup, advancing the New York native into his bracket’s semifinals. With Thursday\u2019s win, Jimenez assured his first international medal, and he will now face France\u2019s Mohamed Ounai on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Team USA will have four boxers entering the ring on Friday, with three of them making their international debut. Zapata will be the first American to step into the ring, followed by Deborah Grant (57 kilograms), who will take on Belgium\u2019s Ana Khunjua. Grant will box in bout seven at approximately 6:30 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n
Also making their international and tournament debuts on Friday are Yahir Diaz-Martinez (60 kilograms) and Kentrell Rouser (70 kilograms). Diaz-Martinez will go up against Belgium\u2019s Nadir Boulaiz in bout 10 at approximately 7:10 a.m ET, while Rouser will square off with Switzerland\u2019s Timm Kellenberger at approximately 9:10 a.m. ET.<\/p>\n
Throughout the competition at the 2026 Gee Bee Boxing Tournament, the United States will be led by National Development Coach Edward Fonteneaux (Fayetteville, N.C.), and assisted by Holly Gregson (Idaho Falls, Idaho), Billy Rafalko (Philadelphia, Pa.), and Ronald Wright (Columbus, Ga.).<\/p>\n
Additional tournament information for the 2026 Gee Bee Boxing Tournament, including the broadcast links, 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 GeeBee Boxing Tournament<\/a>.<\/p>\n Thursday, April 9 Results<\/p>\n Women\u2019s 54 KG: Jayshannet Zapata, USA vs. Stephanie Kemacha, SCO | W 3-2 Friday, April 10 Schedule<\/p>\n Women\u2019s 54 KG: Jayshannet Zapata, USA vs. Miette Bagutti, SUI<\/p>\n Women\u2019s 57 KG: Deborah Grant, USA vs. Ana Khunjua, BEL<\/p>\n Men\u2019s 60 KG: Yahir Diaz-Martinez, USA vs. Nadir Boulaiz, BEL<\/p>\n Men\u2019s 70 KG: Kentrell Rouser, USA vs. Timm Kellenberger, SUI<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"USA Boxing\u2019s Elite High Performance Squad is off to a red-hot start in Helsinki, Finland, for the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,85],"class_list":["post-596410","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\/596410","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=596410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Women\u2019s 65 KG: Alexis Proctor, USA vs. Dina Daoud, SWE | W 5-0
Men\u2019s 65 KG: Dustin Jimenez vs. Yusup Jama Yusup, NOR | W 5-0<\/p>\n