After last week’s 4-1 away defeat, Paris United were left needing the same result or better to qualify for the finals tonight at the Palais des Sports Marcel Cedran. Thanks to tremendous support from the home crowd, Brahim Asloum’s men became true firefighters and managed to contain the Baku Fires. They inflicted a devastating 5-0 rout on the visitors to earn their place in the finals in Guiyang with a spectacular display of boxing.
An unequal fight opened the night between Nordine Oubaali of Paris United and Tugstsogt Nyambaar of the Baku Fires. The young but experienced French bantamweight showed a clean and precise style of boxing as announced. Nyambayar had trouble countering in the face of the tremendous support the home boxer enjoyed. “Tonight we’ll make it with our heart. Our goal is to win the finals. And as far as I am concerned I want to wear the WSB belt,” declared Oubaali afterwards. Oubaali, who is also a contender for the individual championship title, confirmed his status as one of the revelations of the World Series of Boxing with a win by unanimous decision: 49-46, 49-46, 48-47.
The second bout between unbeaten Rachid Azzedine of Paris United and Koba Pkhakadze was not a tight affair either. Motivated after his last fight in Paris ended in a technical draw that dashed his individual title chances, Azzedine was very tense during the opening minutes of the lightweight bout and barely managed to box his usual style in the first round. As the second round started, the Frenchman pressured his opponent and managed to connect with his face and liver several times. Azzedine then recovered his style and displayed his best skills on the way to victory by another unanimous decision: 49-46, 50-45, 49-46.
Michel Tavares then faced Soltan Migitinov of the Baku Fires (no. 2 in the individual ranking). Migitinov is mighty and Tavares is fast. But while Migitinov could not match Tavares’s speed, the Frenchman was entirely capable of adapting to his rival’s strength. Tavares took a psychological advantage after some nice combinations to the body in the third round. A tired Migitinov had to resort to wild swings in the closing stages, but to no avail. Tavares took a third straight win by unanimous decision for Paris United: 50-45, 48-47, 49-46. This brought the cumulative scores level and the final within reach. “He was number two, I wasn’t even in the top 10, but this doesn’t mean anything you see. This victory came from my heart, you can win everything with that,” said Tavares after his victory.
Hrvoje Sep of Paris United faced Rizvan Alimuradov of the Baku Fires in the light heavyweight contest. Baku was now in danger and the visitors badly needed a victory. In the closest fight of the evening there was little to separate the two boxers, who fought closely, often in the clinch, each one trying to pick up individual points wherever he could. After four rounds one judge had the Azeri boxer winning, but the other two had both boxers tied on 38. In the decisive fifth round, Croatian Sep was in no mind to let the Fires spread in Paris. The judges’ decision was as close as the bout itself: 48-47, 45-50, 48-47. A split decision in favour of the Croatian.
Sep’s compatriot and Youth World Champion, 19-year-old Filip Hrgovic, now bore his team’s fate on his shoulders. His opponent in the heavyweight finale was Sergey Kharitonov, a well-known Russian fighter with previous experience in mixed martial arts, K1 and kick-boxing. Hrgovic made a good start but his rival did not seem to feel any pain under his punches. But the Croatian also stood his ground and used his height and reach advantage to good effect. Despite picking up a nasty bruise above his eye in the early rounds, Hrgovic withstood the harsh punishment to pick his moment and with Kharitonov seemingly tiring in the fourth round, Hrgovic even had the Russian boxer unsteady on his legs. From then on it was simply a case of holding out over the final three minutes. In another split decision, Hrgovic triumphed 49-46. 47-48. 49-46. Paris United did the unthinkable and beat the mighty Baku Fires 5-0 thanks to hero Hrgovic.
Head coach Kevin Rabaud was very proud of his men: “We are now in the finals, this is magnificent, they deserve it, but it isn’t over.” And when Michel Tavares asked “and now coach aren’t we strong?” Rabaud replied “of course you all are, if not you wouldn’t even be here.”
