Competition for the top spot in the European team ranking of the World Series of Boxing was fierce this weekend as the Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder and Paris United both scored important wins to draw level on points in the table with Paris United holding a slender advantage, having won two more bouts. As the week five action started in the Americas conference, an opening bout loss at home could not discourage the Miami Gallos as they reeled off four straight wins Wednesday night to earn the easy victory against the Memphis Force and maintain their undefeated home record.
The Gallos and Force squared off at AmericanAirlines Arena in the first World Series of Boxing (WSB) bout of 2011 and the Gallos were able to reverse an earlier season loss to the Force the last time the two teams met. Once again, the home team was dominant in their home ring, a common theme throughout the first four weeks of the season, with the home team losing just once in nine contests thus far.
Light heavyweight Sijuola Shabazz and Robert Brant were brought together in a rematch from their bout at the 2009 USA Boxing National Championships that saw Brant continue on to win the light heavyweight title. Both were ready to go the distance and Brant started off the bout creating more angles and moving out of Shabazz’s reach. But Shabazz remained patient and picked up his pace throughout, taking advantage of Brant as he tired. All three judges awarded Shabazz with the victory, 48-47, 48-47, 48-47.
“Tonight I came out more aggressive and was looking to hurt him,” said Shabazz. “After I fought Robert at the USA Boxing nationals and lost a close fight, I told him that the next time I would knock him out. I didn’t get a knockout tonight, but the win still feels great.”
| The Incheon Red Wings celebrate their first home victory |
Interestingly, after Brant beat Shabazz at the 2009 USA Boxing Championships and continued on to win the light heavyweight title, he would qualify to compete at the AIBA World Championships in Milan. It was there Brant found out about the WSB, and the first person he recommended as a perfect fit for the WSB was Shabazz. Shabazz said that he was grateful Brant had recommended him, and after the win tonight it looks like Shabazz is finally finding his stride after suffering two losses at the start of the season.
The Los Angeles Matadors continue to lead the Americas conference after beating the Mexico City Guerreros on their away encounter on Friday. The current standings now set up another battle between the league’s top two teams as the Matadors face second-place Miami Gallos in Los Angeles on January 13.
Brazil’s Everton Lopes solidified his No. 1 WSB ranking in the lightweight division by handling the Guerreros’ Juan Romero. Lopes is now 3-0 on the season. Entering this week, he was tied with another Matador lightweight Eric Fowler (Houston, Texas) for the top spot in the WSB rankings. Fowler will have the chance next week against Miami to keep pace with Lopes.
Lopes wasn’t the only impressive Matador on display Friday, as three other LA fighters earned victories over previous undefeated Guerrero opponents including Carlos Gongora (Tene Napo, Ecuador), Vyacheslav Shabranskij (Kiev, Ukraine), and David Imoesiri (Long Beach, California).
The lone victory for Mexico City came in the bantamweight division as the Los Angeles Matadors were unable to provide a boxer for this weight class.
In Europe, Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder got the new year off to a great start with a home win at the Palasharp on Friday and continue to vie with Paris United for the coveted top spot in Europe. The Italian team stormed ahead to a 3 – 0 score against the Istanbulls. The challenge looked easier than it actually was and the defeat of Nikolays Grisunins stopped the march to the 5 – 0 final score.
In the first bout Vincenzo Picardi showed his will to win after being defeated in his debut match against Paris United. He beat the young Turkish boxer Selcuk Eker and brought the Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder team 1-0 over the Istanbulls.
“I had to get used to the new rules of this competition,” Picardi said, “and to the 5 rounds. In the first match I wasn’t feeling as good as I do now but I’m ready to fight in Paris January 28th”.
Paris United secured an all-important away win in Moscow on Saturday night to maintain their leadership of the European conference. Paris and Milan are tied on points but Paris holds a slender margin having won two more bouts than Milan.
Nordine Oubaali put in a workmanlike performance to beat new Moscow signing Avtorkhanov Alikhan on a comfortable unanimous decision to extend his record to 3-0 and top the individual rankings at bantamweight.
After losing against lightweight world champion Domenico Valentino in his first match, Ziyodulla Hadiyatullaev scored the only victory of the night for the Moscow Kremlin Bears when his contest against Artur Schmidt was adjudicated technical knock-out due to injury in the third round.
Alexis Vastine secured his second place in the individual rankings with a close victory in the middleweight contest and the heavier weights then sealed the victory for Paris United with two comfortable wins.
Baku Fires keep a clear lead in the Asian conference after an important home victory over a strong Astana Arlans side. The home team’s bantamweight Magomed Abdulhamidov got proceedings off to a good start with a unanimous decision over Bagdad Alimbekov to extend his record to 3-0 and sit second in the individual rankings.
But the Arlans then took two very convincing wins on points by majority decision before Ramazan Magomedov responded in the light heavyweight bout, handing the Arlans’ Maxwell Amponsah his first defeat of the season. With the scores tied at 2-2, the honour of victory rested on the shoulders of the home heavyweight Magomedrasul Medzhidov, who dominated all five rounds to brush aside Ruslan Myrsatayev and maintain his leadership of the individual standings.
The Incheon Redwings took three valuable points from a win on their first home match on Saturday, against the Beijing Dragons. The 4-1 win put the Red Wings in 3rd place in the WSB Asia conference, relegating the Beijing Dragons to 4th place.
Since this match was the first home competition, Incheon Redwings pushed the visiting team from the beginning. In the first and second bouts, Incheon Redwings’ Korean boxers, Kim, Ju Seoung and Baik, Jongsub won consecutively. In the middleweight contest, however, Brazil’s Pedro Lima scored his third consecutive victory – and his second win on points this season over the Red Wing’s Victor Cotiujanschii from Moldova. Nevertheless, light heavyweight Abdelhafid Benchabla bombarded the Dragon’s Zhang Wei with punches to seal the victory for the home team before the end of the match. A unanimous decision in favour of Mihail Muntean in the heavyweight contest handed the Red Wings a final 4-1 victory.
World Series of Boxing action resumes next weekend with week six of the 2010-2011 regular season.
