LOS ANGELES, California, August 6, 2026 — Downtown Los Angeles will soon be home to its third Olympic Games, and two of the district’s busiest entertainment venues will notch one more major event on their résumés. Olympic boxing — including preliminary rounds scheduled for the Peacock Theater. The sport is coming back to the Olympic program in 2028 at the Los Angeles Games, with medal bouts shifting across the street to DTLA Arena — the arena longtime Angelenos still refer to as Staples Center.
In a competition schedule announced this year, organizers have boxing set for July 15-30, 2028, with the competitions taking place in Los Angeles Games dates of July 14-30. Preliminary matches run from July 15 to July 23 at the Peacock Theater before being staged for the finals later in DTLA Arena, taking place July 27 through July 30.
Both venues are first-time Olympic hosts, and both will serve as multi-use facilities during the Games. Olympic weightlifting will also take place at the Peacock Theater, a venue of roughly 7,100 seats that is best known for hosting the Primetime Emmy Awards and the BET Awards. Crammed with local fans, DTLA Arena [formerly Staples Center] had long been where the NBA’s Lakers and WNBA Stars play, as well as where the NHL’s Kings skate. But it’s also going to be entertaining artistic gymnastics and trampoline
That relative parity will be showcased with a record 248 boxers competing in a total of 14 weight classes — seven for men, seven for women. This is the first time ever there will be full parity between men’s and women’s divisions on the Olympic boxing program. World Boxing will administer the competition after the international governing body hijacked Olympic boxing’s governing body once it lost its recognition from the International Olympic Committee.
The organizations behind boxing have observed that the sport faced the tangible possibility of being excluded from the Games for the first time since 1912 before its reinstatement was confirmed last year. Organizers immediately followed up this announcement with a broader LA28 venue plan that they have built almost entirely around existing Southern California arenas and stadiums as opposed to new construction — first Summer Games since London in 1948 to not include newly-built facilities.
When the venue plan was unveiled, LA28 chief executive Reynold Hoover said that “Los Angeles is the home of sports, culture and entertainment, and every venue selected for the 2028 Games will deliver athletes and fans an unrivaled experience.”
Panoramic View of Los Angeles-Karen Bass, the Mayor of LA, framed the Games as a showcase for the whole city, said that she wanted them sprawled out and not concentrated in one area LA28 host committee’s official newsroom. It also details locations for baseball, surfing and other returning or new sports.
Boxing ties to DTLA Arena go back decades before the Olympics — some of the earliest professional boxing cards, mixed martial arts and annual Grammy Awards have graced its stage. So organizers are banking on that entertainment pedigree producing Olympic-style crowds. The L.A. Live complex immediately next to the arena will offer fans a small physical footprint within which they can bounce back and forth between venues during the Games’ second week, powered by The Peacock Theater (no relation).
Those wanting to see it live in LA will have to enter LA28’s ticket draw, registering at Tickets. LA28. org during certain windows then put in to buy seats. Two years remain until the opening ceremony, but boxing’s venues are now finalized — as qualification, seeding and Team USA’s roster take center stage in moving toward 2028.
