What to Know
- Lorenzo Patricio wrapped up his first year of elite amateur competition with USA Boxing with multiple wins, including gold medals at the World Championships in China and the recent PanAm Championships in Mexico.
- The 19-year-old bantamweight is focused on achieving his goal of competing at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.
- A native of Hawaii, Patricio comes from a boxing family. His father and all seven siblings are boxers, with two of his siblings competing as pros.
It seemed inevitable that Lorenzo Patricio would join his family’s business in Waianae, Hawaii, and that business is boxing.
Patricio grew up in his father’s gym. Lyndon Patricio competed as an elite amateur and trained with former world champion Brian “Hawaiian Punch” Viloria before opening his gym and raising his family.
Two of his children are already pros. Shera Mae Patricio was an 11-time national champion. The 23-year-old is undefeated in ten pro fights and appears on Sunday’s Most Valuable Promotions MVPW07 card in Arlington, Texas, facing Brittany Sims in a bantamweight bout.
Brother Lyndon Junior has four wins, including two knockouts, against one loss. Siblings Sheelyn, age 21, Landon, age 18, and Leighton, age 16, are all experienced amateurs with dozens of amateur fights on their records.
Now the 19-year-old is pursuing his dreams of a gold medal at the upcoming 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. In his first year competing with USA Boxing’s High Performance Team, Patricio is cutting a path through the bantamweight (55 kg) division.
He brought home gold medals from the World Championship Games in China, beating a Chinese opponent on home turf; and another from Mexico at the recent 2026 PanAm Championships against Alejandro Claro of Cuba to wrap up the competition year.
We caught up with Patricio getting a well-deserved break, visiting family in Las Vegas before returning to training in Colorado Springs. But don’t think for a second he’s slacking off. “I’ve been training and working out, getting work over here. But still, kind of on vacation mode,” admitted Patricio.
Lorenzo Patricio Full Interview
Patricio’s ambitions blend with his enthusiasm and joy in pursuing the thing he loves most. Where most boxers talk about the hard work involved in training, Patricio speaks more about his focus on “having fun.”
Although we’ve often said former world champion Shawn Porter has the best smile in boxing. Patricio is giving “Showtime” a run for his money with his ever-present grin.
Patricio called his most recent victory “just a beautiful performance for me. To me, a good performance is me having fun. Definitely number one, having a dominant performance and just showcasing what I can do, my footwork, my speed, my skills, my timing, and my athleticism, and showcasing every part of me in that ring,” said Patricio.
Patricio finds it a blessing to be able to travel to international competition. “Travel the world, and not only travel but do my sport that I love, and compete and just have fun with the people I love and that supports me.”
Patricio began training at age five. Although he’s tried several sports, including football and kickboxing, boxing is the best fit. He has always treated boxing as a team sport, first training in the gym with his family and then joining Team USA Boxing.
Patricio admits there are pluses and minuses to training alongside his family. “Pluses, you’re around your family a lot. Minus is you’re around your family a lot,” he laughed.
“Pluses, you get to enjoy doing a sport with the people you love a lot, and they support you, and they’re just always with you, whether through your highs and your lows, having such a strong support system. Minus is they’re in your skin a lot!” Patricio admits they don’t sugarcoat their feedback, but he doesn’t mind it.
Patricio said the current USA High Performance Team works well together despite coming from all over the United States with different backgrounds. “I feel like we have such a good chemistry. We build such a strong chemistry with each other, and we’re able to support each other and push each other even more.”
As Patricio develops his skills for the highest level amateur competition, he says his first year competing with athletes he expects to see in 2028 at the Olympic Games taught him more lessons outside the ring than inside.
“One lesson I learned was always be me, no matter what. Always have my style and be myself. because it affects my performances and the way I fight,” which he describes as “me having fun and all smiling and just loose and just always having a good time.” Patricio says he learned that team chemistry significantly affects performance.
Golden Role Models
Patricio puts two-time Olympic gold medalist and world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko at the top of his boxing role model list, along with American gold medalist Andre Ward and Terence Crawford. Patricio says he admires the Ukrainian’s speed, footwork, and balance.
With just over 18 months until the Olympic Games arrive in Los Angeles, Patricio said the path toward Olympic competition started years ago for him.
“Two, three, four years ago was where I started to realize, ‘Dang, this is really my sport! I really want to do this!’ That’s when the plan got started and put into play. It starts when you’re training in the gym back at home, and going to the nationals, winning those tournaments, getting experience every fight. It all plays a role,” said Patricio.
The boxing world is beginning to take notice. Recently, Patricio had the opportunity to spar with Olympic Gold Medalist Andy Cruz of Cuba, who defeated Keyshawn Davis of the United States in the Tokyo 2020 Games.
Patricio said it was helpful for him to spend time in the ring with an accomplished gold medalist. When he ended up facing Cuban Alejandro Claro in the finals of the recent PanAm Championships, he father reminded him about his experience sparring with Cruz, and Patricio felt well prepared.
“When I came in, I knew we had a game plan, and I stuck with it. Sparring with such an experienced fighter helps me gain IQ and more experience into the boxing realm.” It paid off with the victory, judged the winner by all five judges.
Who does he expect to be his biggest rival 18 months from now? Patricio is taking aim at Russia’s Viacheslav Rogozin who is widely regarded as the top amateur bantamweight. Rogozin is actively building his resume for Los Angeles.
“To be honest, I think I’m the best in the world. I feel like I really want to fight the Russian (Rogozin) at my weight. He’s number one, so I want to fight him,” said Patricio.
But for now, the teenager nicknamed “Sparky” by a former coach’s wife hopes to get the chance to see big sister Shera Mae in her MVPW debut on Sunday ringside along with his family. Then it’s back to work, because Olympic dreams don’t wait.
Gayle Falkenthal is an award-winning boxing journalist with more than four dozen awards for both written and video coverage from the Boxing Writers Association of America, Society of Professional Journalists, and San Diego Press Club, where she is the past president. She is the only woman journalist who is a full voting member of the BWAA. She is the Boxing Editor for NY Fights based in San Diego, California.
