Xavier Correa breezes through semis, will fight for National Golden Gloves gold

Xavier Correa has surpassed his National Golden Gloves performance from two years ago, and has an opportunity to win it all.

It was “Macho Time” on Friday as the 21-year-old from Paterson punched his ticket to the finals with a unanimous decision over Denver’s Angelo Martinez at Arvest Convention Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Correa will box on Saturday against Maximiliano Ruiz, a 23-year-old from West Jordan, Utah, in the 143-pound final.

Correa’s superior boxing skill showed early on as he used his up-jab to back Martinez straight back and land right hands while pivoting out cleanly to his left. Correa’s dominance continued in the second as he capitalized on Martinez’s head being in the middle to land jabs down the pipe and snap his head back with a hook on two separate occasions. Martinez landed his best punch of the fight in this round, a right hand as Correa kept his head in one spot too long, but after Correa won the first 5-0 and the second 4-1, the fight was essentially over once the bell rang for that round.

With the fight essentially over, Correa boxed for most of the third behind his jab while stepping around the ring, but he still popped Martinez a few times with his left hook en route to another 5-0  round.

Ruiz, representing the Rocky Mountain Golden Gloves franchise, is a veteran of over 20 amateur bouts and has significant national experience of his own, having competed at his first national tournament in 2018 before taking a five-year break between 2020 and March of this year. Ruiz advanced to the final after a decision win over Cleveland’s Braylon Lane, which was preceded by wins over Texas’ Josue Albarran, Nevada’s Adan Pina Rodriguez and Wisconsin’s Cody Erke.

Correa, who made it to the 2024 National Golden Gloves semis before leaving with a bronze, can extend New Jersey’s gold medal streak to four years, after Tyric Trapp won 176-pound gold in 2025 and 2024, and Malachi Georges won 203-pound gold in 2023.