Olayo-Muñoz loses in semis 

As you move up, it gets tougher. 

In Lubbock, Texas Las Cruces amateur boxer Joscelyn  Olayo-Muñoz lost her 112-pound semifinal bout by split (4-1) decision to Austin, Texas southpaw Noelle Haro on Friday at the USA Boxing National Championships. 

Olayo-Muñoz, a 2025 Las Cruces High School graduate, won 16 national titles as she rose through successive age groups and won an international youth title earlier this year in Frankfurt, Germany. But the New Mexico teen-ager was making her Elite Division (18-and-over) debut in Lubbock.

Haro, 29, already has won three national-level titles this year. She’ll face Laredo, Texas’ Jennifer Lozano, a 2024 U.S. Olympian, in Saturday’s 112-pound title bout.

All three rounds of Olayo-Muñoz’s bout against Haro were competitive, but four of the five judges scored the bout for Haro (30-27 once, 29-28 three times).

One judge scored the bout 30-27 for Olayo-Muñoz, as did the Journal, scoring it off USA Boxing’s streaming of the tournament.

Two New Mexicans, Hobbs’ Paul Evans and Rio Rancho’s Ariana Chavez, won their semifinal bouts on Friday.

Evans, fighting at 165 pounds in the Junior Division, defeated Aiden Lopez of Owasso, Oklahoma by spit decision. He‘ll face John Pritchett of Temple Hills, Maryland in Saturday’s title bout.

Chavez overwhelmed Denysha Hogan of Toledo, Ohio in winning her 165-pound Youth Division semifinal by first-round stoppage (referee stopped contest). Chavez will face San Francisco’s Millian Sanchez in Saturday’s final.

Two Las Cruces boxers lost championship bouts on Friday.

Amiah Mendoza (Intermediate 110 pounds) lost by unanimous decision to Takhia Nunez of Hialeah Gardens, Florida. Austin Sanchez (Intermediate 106) lost by unanimous decision to Luis Gabaldon of Phoenix.

Sanchez and Mendoza had won their semifinal bouts on Thursday.