USA Boxing Olympic Team Trials Set for Lake Charles

The 2020 U.S. Olympic Boxing Team Trials will be held December 7–15 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, at the Lake Charles Civic Center and Golden Nugget Lake Charles Hotel.

USA Boxing and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee awarded Lake Charles the event, which will also include the 2019 USA Boxing National Championships. It will be the first time that Lake Charles hosts the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for boxing.

“The 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Boxing will be the culmination of what began last December,” said Mike McAtee, USA Boxing executive director. “This event will feature the 104 best boxers in the nation, boxing for 13 spots, as well as over 700 boxers that will be our future 2024 and 2028 Olympians.”

The 13 winners of their respective Olympic weight classes will advance to next year’s Olympic qualifying events taking place January–May 2020 to box for a spot to represent Team USA at the 2020 Olympic Summer Games in Tokyo.

“USA Boxing is tremendously excited to join with Lake Charles to bring the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for Boxing to the Gulf Coast,” stated USA Boxing Events Manager Michael Campbell. “The city’s warm hospitality and Southern charm, great people, climate and culture make for a perfect fit to crown our next generation of champions and give our boxers, coaches and officials a special experience.”

The local partners for the 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials for boxing are the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana CVB. Recent hosts for the trials have included Reno, Nevada, for men and Memphis, Tennessee, for women in 2016; and Mobile, Alabama, for men and Spokane, Washington, for women in 2012.

“Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana are honored to host the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials for Boxing and USA Boxing National Championships,” said Kyle Edmiston, president and CEO of the Lake Charles/Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau. “Our destination is looking forward to showing these gifted athletes our unique brand of Southern hospitality. The community is so excited to be part of history-in-the-making as this prestigious event will be the focus of sports fans this December.”

The 2019 USA Boxing National Championships held in conjunction with the trials will determine USA Boxing’s junior and youth high-performance teams for 2020. Louisiana has hosted numerous boxing events throughout the years, including the National Golden Gloves tournament in 2017.

“This is my third Olympic Trials, and to have it in the state where I started boxing is very exciting,” said 2016 U.S. Olympic Team Trials champion and 2019 Pan American Games silver medalist Virginia Fuchs. “I feel like I am bringing back all my success to where I started, in front of everyone who was with me from the very beginning. It’s truly something special.”