It took years of dedicated work from athletes to make the 2024 Paris Olympic boxing team, but once the process began in earnest, it proved to be as complex and grueling as the sport itself.
Starting in mid-2023, qualifying tournaments will begin in all continents. These tournaments include the Asian Games, European Games, Pacific Games and Pan American Games.
This year, two world qualification tournaments for the Paris 2024 Games were held in Italy (March) and Thailand (May). These were direct qualifiers, with the first event offering 49 places to 670 boxers from 113 countries; the latter was the final chance to qualify, with a similar number of places on offer.
In January, Great Britain hosted the GB Open, a sort of boxing World Cup, giving the best domestic competitors a chance to qualify. Considered a warm-up event, the event saw over 20 boxers from the UK take part.
Sporting News investigates other details regarding boxing eligibility for Paris 2024.
How many boxers will compete at Paris 2024?
249 boxers (125 men and 124 women) will compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
How will boxers be ranked at Paris 2024?
There will be no rankings. Seeding for each weight class will be determined based on the results of the qualifying tournaments and a lottery.
Which boxers were selected for the U.S. team?
Team USA will be one of the premier groups in boxing at Paris 2024 and will attract a lot of attention.
Four boxers qualified after performing well at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games in October: Jajaira Gonzalez (Glendora, California), Jamal Harvey (Oxon Hill, Maryland), Jennifer Lozano (Laredo, Texas) and Morelle McCain (Cleveland, Ohio).
In April, four more boxers qualified after winning medals at the 2024 USA Boxing Invitational in Pueblo, Colorado: Joshua Edwards (Houston, Texas), Omari Jones (Orlando, Florida), Roscoe Hill (Springs, Texas) and Alyssa Mendoza (Caldwell, Idaho).
All athletes were required to participate in the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team Trials, Qualifiers and Preliminary Qualifier competitions.
Read more: Will Manny Pacquiao box in the Olympics?
Can professional boxers compete in the Olympics?
The answer is yes, as the IOC, in a controversial decision, allowed professional boxers to compete at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games for the first time.
Many felt that this decision would negatively impact and possibly destroy amateur boxing altogether, as amateur boxers fight three rounds of three minutes each wearing large gloves and headgear, while world-class professional boxers fight 12 rounds of three minutes each wearing small gloves and no headgear.
In 2016, both the IBF and WBC issued press releases announcing that they would remove professional fighters competing in the Rio Olympics from their respective ratings, a decision that remains unpopular in 2024.
Earlier this year, former eight-division boxing champion and legend Manny Pacquiao, 45, was denied entry to Paris 2024 after the IOC rejected his application to represent the Philippines because he was five years over the age limit.
