Xavier Correa wins National Golden Gloves title, outpoints Utah opponent
Xavier Correa used superior foot movement and intelligent counterpunching to outpoint Maximiliano Ruiz on Saturday, winning the 2026 National Golden Gloves by a 4-1 decision at Arvest Convention Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The Paterson, N.J. resident won by shutout scores of 30-27 on four cards while the fifth had it 29-28 for Ruiz of West Jordan, Utah. The win marks a significant improvement for Correa from his 2024 finish, when he exited with a bronze medal.
This time, Correa was in control early on, using his lateral movement and jab to keep the aggressive Ruiz at bay, while using check hooks to get out of trouble when he found himself on the ropes. After all five judges scored the first for Correa, Ruiz turned up the pressure in the second, landing a strong right hand to begin the round.
Correa met the moment, flurrying effectively and pulling out of exchanges while taking advantage of Ruiz’s head being in the middle to land right hands. Four of the judges scored the second for Correa, meaning the fight was essentially over at this point.
With the fight in the bag, Correa spent the third pot-shotting and slipping, while trying to avoid the big punches coming from Ruiz, like the right hand and left hook that landed on Correa after he ran out of space trying to lean back defensively. Even with the fight out of reach, Correa still landed enough with his jab to earn the round 4-1.
The title is Correa’s second national championship, having won the 2016 Junior Olympics in the 75-pound bantam division.
With the win, Correa, 21, of True Warriors Boxing earns New Jersey its 18th National Golden Gloves title, and fourth ever from Paterson, following Jeremy Bryan’s back-to-back titles in the same division in 2004 and 2005, and Curtis Harris’ title in 1974.
New Jersey has now won National Golden Gloves titles in four straight tournaments, after Malachi Georges (2023) and Tyric Trapp (2024 and 2025) earned titles en route to landing on the USA Boxing national team.