Thursday, october 26, 2023.- The penultimate round of boxing, taking place at the Centro de Entrenamiento Olímpico, awarded 12 spots for the Paris 2024 Olympics. The morning's action, corresponding to the semifinals in six weight categories, included six female's and six male's bouts.

The standout of the day was Cuban, two-time Olympic champion, Julio César La Cruz, who, in the 92-kg category, defeated Julio César Castillo from Ecuador and will be aiming for his third Olympic medal in Paris.

The bout was highly contested, and after three rounds, the judges' scorecards read 4-1 in favor of the Cuban.

"It was a tough fight against a formidable opponent who is always in world championships. I'm heading to my fourth Olympic Games," said Julio César La Cruz.

In the female's 54-kg category, the Olympic spots were claimed by Yeni Arias from Colombia and Tatiana de Jesús from Brazil, who defeated Johana Gómez from Venezuela and Denisse Bravo from Chile, respectively.

In the 60-kg category, the battle for the gold medal will be between Brazilian Beatriz Soares Ferreira, a silver medalist at Tokyo 2020, and Colombian Angie Valdez. Both secured their Olympic tickets by defeating Ecuador's María José Palacios and the United States' Jajaira González. This category offered four spots.

Panamanian Atheyna Bylon defeated Brazilian Viviane Dos Santos, and Canadian Tammara Thibelut did the same against Mexican Citialli Vanessa Ortiz, securing the tickets to Paris in the 75-kg category.

In the male's 57-kg category, the Cuban Saidel Horta secured his place in Paris by defeating the Dominican José Luis de los Santos. Jahmal Harvey from the United States, who defeated the second Brazilian representative, Luiz Do Nascimento, also qualified for Paris.

In the 71-kg category, which also offers two Olympic quotas, Mexico's Marco Verde defeated Panama's Eduardo Beckford, and Ecuador's José Gabriel Rodríguez overcame Canada's Junior Peka.

The morning session concluded with a win by W.O. for Brazilian Marley Machado over Canadian Bryan Codwell, also in the 92-kg category.

Written by Esteban Gómez and Patricio Echagüe; translated by Josefina Zamorano / Santiago 2023 via Photosport
Photo: Andres Piña / Santiago 2023 via Photosport