The home teams won both of today’s first-leg semi-finals as the Astana Arlans beat Los Angeles Matadors 4-1 at the Daulet Sports Complex in Astana and the Baku Fires overcame Paris United with the same score at the Serhedchi Olympic Sports Complex in Baku. The two central Asian teams took decisive steps towards the team finals, which will be held in Guiyang, China on May 6-7 and will offer half a million dollars in prize money.
Astana Arlans 4 Los Angeles Matadors 1
Coach Many Robles’ decision to travel with his strongest squad had always seemed a risk, but Rau’Shee Warren’s early victory suggested that it was a good choice. The 2007 AIBA World Champion got the evening off to a good start for the visitors with a close win against relative newcomer Mirzhan Rakhimzhanov in the bantamweight contest (48-47, 47-48, 48-47). The win extends Warren’s unbeaten record this season to 5-0, while Rakhimzhanov, who first competed in week eight of the regular season, goes 2-2 against only three different opponents.
Things then started to unravel for the visitors as the home team’s Merey Akshalov pulled ahead in the early stages of the lightweight contest against Brazil’s Everton Lopes after dominating the first two rounds. Lopes’ response in the third and fourth was not strong enough and Akshalov finished with a win by unanimous decision (50-45, 49-46, 49-46).
Kanat Slam, bronze medallist for China at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, has consistently demonstrated his power throughout the regular season. He is one of the few boxers to have won by knock-out and only one out of his three wins in the regular season went the full distance.
The naturalized Kazakh didn’t disappoint the home crowd today and continued the home team’s onslaught. After dominating the first round with 10-8 scores from all three judges, he finished off the visitor’s Russell Lamour in the second round of their middleweight encounter to win by technical knock-out.
In the closest bout of the evening, a late response by the Matadors’ “Ukraine Pain Train” Vyacheslav Shabranskyy brought him to within only a point of Ramzjon Ahmedov (Uzbekistan). But it was this single point that clinched the match for Astana Arlans, as Ahmedov’s 48-47, 48-47, 48-47 win put the home team 3-1 ahead before the heavyweight contest.
Kazakhstan’s home-grown Beijing Olympian Ruslan Myrsatayev sealed the match for the Arlans with a spectacular fourth-round knock-out against David Imoesiri in the heavyweight finale.
The Astana Arlans take a 4-1 home victory from the encounter, giving themselves a strong position ahead of the return leg in Los Angeles next Sunday, which will be the last of the four semi-finals.
Baku Fires 4 Paris United 1
Brahim Asloum clearly favoured the opposite tactic of the Los Angeles Matadors on Saturday evening, sending his more inexperienced boxers – at least in the lower weight divisions – for their first leg away match against the Baku Fires.
Georgia’s Georgi Kilanava opened the proceedings for Paris at the Serhedchi Olympic Sports Center in Baku against the more experienced Magomed Abdulhamidov – one of only two Azeri boxers on the evening’s card for the home team.
It was only the second time this season that the 24-year-old Kilanava had entered the ring, after losing to Ciprian Apodaresei in week nine and winning by a walkover in week 11.
But the Georgian put in a spirited performance against the more experienced Abdulhamidov, who ended the regular season with a 5-1 record that left him in third place in the individual rankings.
After the Azeri put his stamp on the first round, Kilanava replied to take the second, but the home boxer pulled away thereafter to take a win by unanimous decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46).
The lightweight bout saw 2008 Olympian Abdelkader Chadi from Algeria make his début for the visitors against Russia’s Semen Grivachev of the Baku Fires, who was only contesting his third WSB bout this season.
Grivachev, gold medallist at the 2009 AIBA President’s Cup, opened up an early lead that became difficult for Chadi to counter in the closing rounds. The strong Russian secured a second important victory by unanimous decision for the home team, winning 49-46, 48-47, 49-46.
Paris United’s Stephane Cuevas, still looking for his first WSB victory, lasted only two rounds against Mahamed Nurudzinau (Belarus). The middleweight contest was stopped in the third round by the referee, who handed Nurudzinau the semi-final victory by TKO-I.
The scores for the remaining two bouts were far from academic, since in the event of a tie after the two semi-final legs, the individual points of each team could decide the winner.
With two of Paris United’s strongest boxers entering the ring, the light heavyweight and heavyweight bouts in Baku could prove crucial to the team’s chances of making the team final.
Ludovic Groguhe came into his light heavyweight bout against Denys Poyatsyka (Ukraine) unbeaten and was clearly determined to remain so in his crucial semi-final appearance. But Poyatyska matched him evenly through three rounds before Groguhe opened up a lead in the closing stages. The fight finished on a split decision in Groguhe’s favour (49-46, 49-46, 47-48).
Tony Yoka is the youngster of the Paris side but at 18 years old he already has two international medals to his name – a silver at the 2010 AIBA Youth World Championships and gold at the 2010 Youth Olympic Games.
Unfazed by the 4-1 record of his opponent Magomedrasul Medzhidov, who finished second in the individual rankings to qualify for the Individual Championships, Yoka showed maturity and skill against a tough opponent to open up a lead after two rounds, moving around so much that it was difficult for Medzhidov to land a punch.
But Medzhidov connected with a left in the third round that led to a standing count and signalled the turn of the bout. The home boxer took advantage of the situation to the full to win the fourth round and bring a victory within his reach. Although the judges were undecided on the final round, it was enough to give Medzhidov the decision (50-44, 48-46, 47-48) and leave the final score 4-1 to the Baku Fires.
In the WSB’s playoff format, each semi-finalist faces their opponent once at home and once away in the league’s five weight classes, each time with a different squad.
Paris United and the Los Angeles Matadors both face an uphill struggle at next week’s return legs. Even with the home advantage, the Matadors need to give the Arlans a 5-0 home drubbing or win by 4-1 and hope the points difference (currently 103 in Astana’s favour) clinches the final place for them.
Paris United will need a similar score to make the finals, but with the season’s second and third best boxers at bantamweight and lightweight respectively set to enter the ring, the Paris home match promises to be an exciting affair.
Check out worldseriesboxing.com for all the results from the semi-finals bouts.
