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JoJo’s Dream: Chasing the La olympics

“JoJo” Joseph Awinongya Jr. wins a Gold Medal at the U19 World Championships at 75kg (Super Middleweight), held in Pueblo, Colorado, November, 1st 2024, defeating India’s Rahul Kundu via majority decision. Muscular, 6’4” Awinongya Jr. of Joliet, Illinois, stopped his first opponent, Connor Anderson representing New Zealand in the first minute of their bout. JoJo detonated a concussive flurry of punches reminiscent of Mike Tyson’s sensational amatuer career, the referee had to stop the bout due to a dizzy Anderson’s inability to defend himself. In his second bout against Algeria’s Mustapha Abdou, Awinongya Jr. dominated, utilizing phenomenal Mayweather-esc defensive head-movement and clean counter-punching. JoJo nearly stopped Abdou late in the bout after giving Abdou a second standing eight count causing Abdou stumble across the ring but the determined Algerian was saved by the bell. The scores were a shutout for Awinongya Jr.. In the final, JoJo faced off against the strong team India in a highly skilled fighter named Rahul Kundu. Kundu presented a difficult first round though Awinongya Jr. dominated with thudding counter punches and won on all score cards. In the second round, Kundu boxed better and the round was very close but JoJo defeated Kundu on most of the scorecards. The final round Kundu edged Awinongya Jr. but it wasn’t enough to change the final result and Awinongya Jr. was crowned U19 Super Middleweight World Champion by Majority Decision victory.

Remarkably JoJo is one of the youngest fighters in the tournament at 17-years-old, the U19 World Championships are for boxers who are older than 16 and younger that 19. This is an important tournament as it sets the stage for future competitors in the 2028 Olympics. Awinongya Jr. will be 21-years-old by then and a prime threat to medal if he continues to win World Championship Tournaments like he did today.

Team USA has won several gold medals today as the team seems re-energized after struggling at the 2024 Olympics and only securing one medal in Omari Jones’ Welterweight Bronze. JoJo’s path to U19 World Championships Gold is one that started at a very young age and remarkably boxing isn’t his only pursuit, and I’ve been blessed to witness a lot his journey.

Every few decades a special, generational-talent emerges, a person who has cross-over magic in sport and culture and even politics, Muhammad Ali, Senator, Manny Pacquiao, Mayor, Vitali Klitschko and even former California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger to name a few. “JoJo” Joseph Awinongya Jr. is emerging as that type of phenomenon. Awinongya Jr. is not just an astounding talent in the sport of boxing but as student and inspirational speaker as well. He graduated high school early and earned an Associate Degree at the age of 14. JoJo is currently attending Saint Francis University and hopes to complete his degree soon and has already been accepted to Harvard University where he will seek his Master’s Degree. Awinongya Jr. also has achieved highly as an inspirational speaker and recently won The Chicagoland Intercollegiate Story Slam at East-West University, (an event I organized) with his inspirational personal narrative about overcoming a difficult opponent, and tensions with his father, to win a US National Championship in boxing. Awinongya Jr. has also spoken at various City Halls when accepting awards for his academic, civic, cultural, and sports achievements. JoJo is the son of Ghanaian immigrants and has also given speeches in his family’s homeland where they visit often and remain deeply connected, JoJo has met the president and even appeared on billboards in Ghana where he is swiftly becoming a kind of National hero.

I was a stablemate of JoJo’s father Joseph Awinongya Sr. at the Windy City Gym in Chicago starting around 2002, we sparred and trained alongside each other. Awinongya Sr. was a professional fighter signed to Don King Promotions. I was an Chicago Golden Gloves champion trying to get a professional contract. My boxing career fizzled out and I became a boxing writer for the Chicago Tribune and Awinongya Sr. retired as fighter and turned to coaching and his boxers competed for professional world titles against the likes then reigning unified world champion, Gennady Golovkin. I wrote about Awinongya Sr. and his boxers and upon one of my first visits to Joseph’s gym in Joliet, I met a five-year-old little boy with bright hopeful eyes named JoJo. JoJo informed me that he would one day be a boxing champion. And I could see the spark in him and commented, “I’m sure you will be,” which delighted JoJo.

Over the years I watched JoJo grow up and begin winning amatuer championships and realized that with his father in his corner and the early start he’d gotten, his chances of winning major championships was almost a certainty. Then I started to hear about his excellence in school and seeing him speaking at Joliet City Hall and realized this was more than just an athlete with a bright future. This was something truly special, a cross over type talent that could potentially achieve highly in intellectual pursuits and even potentially hold high political office.

Another sweet and prophetic moment occurred when I was helping Scottish Author Irvine Welsh (of Trainspotting) with a TV pilot he was writing for HBO that he wanted to set in Joliet. We went out to see Joseph Awinongya Sr. at his gym and a 9-year-old, JoJo approached us with his bright eyes and sweet voice and asked Irvine, “Excuse me Mr. Irvine, what is the TV Show about?!” Irvine spun around to face JoJo and pointed at him. “It’s all about you, Bud!” Irvine told him. JoJo’s eyes lit and his face twisted into a big toothy smile.

The HBO series didn’t come to fruition, (though Irvine does have a hugely successful TV series in the UK right now called Crime), but Irvine’s playful premonition he told to JoJo is now coming true. Having won more than 20 US National Championships for his age group makes him the winningest Amatuer Junior champion in Chicago boxing history. With the 2028 LA Olympic Games on the horizon Awinongya Jr. has a perfect amount of time to position himself as the US Olympic representative or, as a backup, the Ghanaian representative due to his ability to gain citizenship through his family lineage.

JoJo’s Dream isn’t just in a hard road where he will need to defeat many driven and talented boxers from around the world but Boxing is in jeopardy of being excluded from the Olympics in 2028 due to corruption in the International Boxing Association . And who other than former a former opponent to the Awinongya family, former unified professional World Champion and Olympic Silver medalist Gennady Golovkin of Kazakhstan to step in and help support this new effort to save Olympic Boxing in supporting the new organization World Boxing which will make its bid to sanction Olympic Boxing in 2028. Golovkin was at the tournament in Pueblo, Colorado and had this to say.

“Olympic Boxing means a lot, because this is dream for young fighters, boxing has a long history, and if we lose boxing in the Olympics we will lose the sport. World Boxing is the answer to this problem.”

When it comes to the countries who still haven’t joined World Boxing and are still competing under the controversial IBA. Golovkin stated, “We have to stick together. World Boxing will keep us in the Olympics as a sport.”

With the sport of boxing’s place in the 2028 Olympics in jeopardy, JoJo’s dream is especially poignant, as he doesn’t just have to overcome a huge group of hungry, experienced and skilled opponents but he needs to help draw attention to boxing’s plight, and help to clean up the corruption that exists in the Sweet Science that he loves, all while pursuing his intellectual goals and managing how to attend Harvard in the midst of his Olympic bid. So, part of this column will follow Awinongya Jr. as he pursues his dream of winning Gold at the 2028 LA Olympics, in a era in amatuer boxing where you can’t just battle in the ring but you have to fight with words and advocate outside of it, just to keep your Olympic dream alive.

EAst-WEst university Boxing Team

Coming Soon.

boxing as a means of helping people cope with the stress of work, study, and past trauma

Coming Soon.