By Tom Degun

Ytalo Perea_of_EcuadorMay 21 - Ecuador and the United States proved the dominate forces at the International Boxing Association (AIBA) American Olympic qualifying event in Rio de Janeiro that saw 38 fighters from ten different weight categories book their spots at London 2012.

Ecuador's fighters secured seven of the 38 spots after a superb performance while the US claimed six of the places.

Puerto Rico, one of the top boxing nations on the planet, claimed five Olympic berths while host nation Brazil book four spots, which bodes well for them ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Dominican Republic claimed three spots at the qualifying event with Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela each claiming two spots and Cuba, Nicaragua and Trinidad and Tobago all claiming one spot each.

At light flyweight (46-49kg) Jantony Ortiz from Puerto Rico, Carlos Quipo from Ecuador and Carlos Suarez from Trinidad & Tobago all booked their Olympic spot as did Puerto Rico's Jeyvier Cintron and Brazil's Julio Henriques at flyweight (52kg).

Jose Ramirez
Bantamweight (56kg) saw Oscar Valdez from Mexico, Alberto Melian from Argentina, Robenilson Vieira from Brazil and William Encarnacion from Dominican Republic claim Olympic berths while the qualifiers at lightweight (60kg) were Felix Verdejo from Puerto Rico, Wellington Arias from Dominican Republic, Eduar Marriaga from Colombia and Jose Ramirez (pictured above in red) from USA.

At light welterweight (64kg) Roniel Iglesias (pictured below) from Cuba and Francisco Vargas from Puerto Rico, Cesar Villarraga from Colombia, Jamel Herring from USA and Anderson Rojas from Ecuador all qualified as did welterweights (69kg) Myke Ribeiro from Brazil, Oscar Molina from Mexico, Carlos Sanchez from Ecuador, Gabriel Maestre from Venezuela and Custio Clayton from Canada. 

Roniel Iglesias
At Middleweight (75kg) Terrell Gausha from USA, Junior Castillo from Dominican Republic, Marlo Delgado from Ecuador, Jose Espinoza from Venezuela and Enrique Collazo from Puerto Rico claimed London 2012 places along with light heavyweights (81kg) Marcus Browne from USA, Yamaguchi Falcao from Brazil, Carlos Gongora from Ecuador and Osmar Bravo from Nicaragua.

At heavyweight (91kg) Michael Unter from USA, Yamil Peralta from Argentina and Julio Castillo from Ecuador claimed Olympic spots while in the glamour, super heavyweight (+91kg) division, Dominic Breazeale from USA, Ytalo Perea from Ecuador and Simon Kean from Canada book their ticket to ExCeL in London, where the Olympic boxing competition will be staged.

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