Based on their record so far this season and their status as the best team overall in the current standings, the Baku Fires already have one foot in the play-offs. But they still need to beat arch rivals Astana Arlans in Saturday’s away match in order to make their qualification a certainty before the final weekend of the season on March 19.
Yet Baku are clearly resting their top boxers this week, fielding a squad that consists entirely of foreigners in a tactic that would suggest they do not want to risk their best personnel in their final showdown with Astana.
World Championship silver medallist Tugstsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia) will lead the visitors out for the bantamweight opener. The 18 year-old has a 3-0 season record in the WSB and will face Mirzhan Rakhimzhanov (Kazakhstan) of the Arlans. Nyambayar, who is ranked sixth at bantamweight – only one place behind his team-mate Abdulhamidov – has already beaten Rakhimzhanov in week eight.
Top-ranked lightweight Yerzhan Mussafirov (Kazakhstan) has already faced his opponent for this week twice before and got the better of Koba Pkhakadze (Georgia) on both occasions.
After making a late start to the season, middleweight Slam Kanat (Kazakhstan) will be looking to extend his 3-1 record in front of the home crowd against the visitors’ Botirjon Mahmudov (Uzbekistan).
The home team’s Ramzjon Ahmedov (Uzbekistan) will face an unbeaten Denys Poyatsyka (Ukraine) in the light heavyweight contest, while the heavyweight battle will see Ruslan Myrsatayev (Kazakhstan) take on the Fires’ second Georgian boxer, Beka Lobjanidze.
The Beijing Dragons welcome the Pohang Poseidons in the second match in the Asian conference on Saturday.
Lukasz Maszczyk (Poland) is the only member of the visiting squad still looking for a win. This weekend will be his last chance at victory to improve on his 0-5 record so far this season.
The Dragons’ lightweight Zhimin Wang (China) has the advantage of knowing his opponent Bahodirjon Sultonov (Uzbekistan), since he beat him in week eight of the competition.
Middleweight Pedro Lima (Brazil) of the Beijing Dragons lost to Slam Kanat (Kazakhstan) of the Astana Arlans in his last WSB encounter, which removed any chance of him qualifying for the Individual Championships. Lima faces Victor Cotiujanschii (Moldova) of the Poseidons, who he beat in week five of the competition.
The Poseidons’ star boxer Abdelhafid Benchabla (Algeria) will qualify for the light heavyweight division at the Individual Championships if he beats Assane Faye of the Beijing Dragons on Saturday. Benchabla is undefeated in five bouts and currently tops the table, while Faye has yet to win in five bouts.
Benchabla’s compatriot and Pohang Poseidons team-mate Chouaib Bouloudinats has a chance of moving into the top ten in the heavyweight rankings if he can dismiss Zhihua Ma of the Dragons this week. Bouloudinats’ record stands at 2-2 with his opponent for this week yet to win a bout in five encounters.
Click here for the full squad lists for all of this week’s matches.
