Cuba 5-0 USA: Knockouts tamed in Havana
The Cuba Domadores put themselves clearly in the driving seat of this World Series of Boxing (WSB) quarter-final match up with the USA Knockouts in their home leg of the event.
Havana was buzzing with excitement in the build-up. The stadium was packed to the rafters (16’000 spectators) and in an indication of just how important the WSB is on the island, this was the first time a sports event has ever been filmed in High Definition in Cuba, marking a significant technological milestone in the country’s history.
Bout of the match
Double World Champion and Olympic bronze medallist Lazaro Alvarez of Cuba and up-and-coming Venezuelan Luis Arcon Diaz put on an excellent show for the crowd. Diaz impressed journalists at the AIBA World Boxing Championships Almaty 2013, who tipped him to have a bright future in the sport. Indeed, as the current AIBA number 6 ranked Lightweight in the world, he is arguably already there.
The 21 year old described his style in the following way: “what I like to do is to box on the outside. It gives me more chance to watch the opponent, and it is more technical as well”. Against a boxer of Alvarez’ calibre however, he was unable to implement his game plan effectively. The Cuban was in stunning form and out-boxed the Knockouts’ boxer, winning each round comfortably.
Boxer of the match
London 2012 Olympic Champion Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo was in imperious form against another talented Venezuelan in the form of Gabriel Maestre. The WSB seems to have a particularly potent Welterweight category at the moment. It speaks volumes when you consider that Sotolongo is not the current Cuban first pick, but sits behind Arisnoidys Despaigne, the 2013 World silver medallist.
Emerging Russian boxer Alexander Besputin, who won yesterday, World Champion Daniyar Yeleussinov, and Italy’s Olympic bronze medallist Vincenzo Mangiacapre are all in the mix in the category. So too is Gabriel Maestre, who until last night was unbeaten in the WSB. Indeed his record is so good that even after this loss, he remains the WSB 5th ranked Welterweight, which is quite a statement.
All this only goes to emphasise how impressive Sotolongo’s comfortable looking victory was. A stunning uppercut to the body dropped Maestre in round three, and down he stayed. The KO was the first of Sotolongo’s short WSB career to date, but we can anticipate that more will follow.
The turning point
19 year old Yoandi Toirac has impressed so far in the WSB, though he lost his last match against Russian Maxim Babanin. Swedish boxing star Mohamed Sallah meanwhile had been unbeaten in his debut season. This looked on paper to be a good opportunity for the USA Knockouts to seize something from the match, offering them at least a point on the board for the return leg. This was not to be, and the young Cuban proved his mental strength in coming back from his recent loss to comfortably dominate his 30 year old opponent. Sallah is in his prime for a Super Heavyweight and was competing when Toirac was still learning to walk. The fact that most observers still rate Sallah as a good boxer just indicates what a prospect for the future this young Cuban is.
Fact/Stat of the match
The Knockouts now face a significant uphill struggle on the return fixture, with the Domadores having only lost 16% of their bouts this season.
Wrap up
Light Heavyweights Emilio Correa of the Domadores and Michel Borges de Souza of the USA Knockouts put on a display that could have been bout of the night in any other match. But with so much going on, they were unfortunate to find themselves in the wrap-up this week. Correa has moved up a weight category after his success rates slowed following his silver in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The move seems to suit him and he clearly has the power to mix it in that category, whilst retaining some of the speed from the lower division. His father was a 1972 Olympic gold medallist at Welterweight and this was an impressive WSB debut for Correa. Hopefully we will see more of him again soon.
Unfortunately there was a walkover at Flyweight with USA Knockouts boxer Eros Correa failing to make weight, giving Gerardo Cervantes a nominal victory.
Coming up next
The USA’s home leg of the event will take place in Rockingham Park, Salem, New Hampshire on Saturday April 12. It represents the first time the WSB has visited the State.
Kazakhstan 5-0 Germany: Champions are through
Defending World Series of Boxing (WSB) Champions, the Astana Arlans Kazakhstan cruised to a quarter-finals victory over Team Germany in an excellent night’s boxing in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Coming into the bout with a 3-2 advantage following their away win in Germany last weekend, the “Alpha Wolves” were always the favourites today. The result meant that the score across the two legs was 8-2 on aggregate, which will be a clear warning to their rivals that the Champions mean business again this year.
Bout of the match
Samat Bashenov and Artur Bril put on an excellent display for the crowd in the Almaty Sports Palace. Bril has an unusual style and he certainly had his moments of brilliance. He moved his head consistently and boxed with his hands low much of the time, his unorthodox style made him tricky to predict for the more classic boxer Bashenov. This meant that the opening two rounds were both split decisions. In round three however, Bril’s strategy began to cause him problems after he got caught on several occasions, but failed to adjust his tactics. Bril clearly has the heart, and as the 2010 World and Olympic Youth Champion, the talent needed to be a top boxer. But his third round defensive misjudgement ultimately swung the tide of the bout irredeemably in the favour of the Kazakh.
Boxer of the match
Super-Heavyweight Erik Pfeifer got a warm reception from the knowledgeable boxing fans in Almaty, in the very arena where the German won his World bronze medal in October. On that occasion Pfeifer was besieged for autographs as he left the stadium, such is the esteem in which he is held in Kazakhstan. His opponent Ruslan Myrsatayev was no pushover however and the crowd’s affection for Pfeifer didn’t prevent them from throwing their significant weight behind their local boxer. Pfeifer came into this bout unbeaten in the WSB, but Myrsatayev got the best of him today, taking his record to 13-5 in the WSB, and earning himself a place among the big guns in the league.
The turning point
Germany’s Vjaceslav Kerber and the Arlans’ Meirim Nursultanov were very closely matched at Welterweight. The German had a good season so far coming into the bout, winning both of his fights. Nursultanov gradually began to edge ahead however and it was he who took the bout. It was not the most spectacular boxing of the evening, but the result did ensure that it was the defending champions who progressed to the next round of the competition, ejecting Germany in the process. That made it the defining moment of the evening in any event.
Quote of the match
“Serge Michel is built like a boxer, but has the mentality of a fighter and against this man [Hrvoje Sep] that can get you in trouble […] You can’t fight Sep, you have got to box him” – WSB Commentator, sums up Serge Michel’s difficulties
Wrap up
Croatian superstar Hrvoje Sep put his 14-6 WSB record on the line once more for the Champions against Germany’s Serge Michel. The German has had a good run this season winning both his bouts prior to this match, including one by TKO. The two boxers have met before, in Week 5 of Season III. On that occasion it was the Arlans boxer who was victorious. Sep again imposed his own style of fighting on the bout, closing the range and battering away up close. Michel showed glimpses of brilliance but it was not enough to beat the energy-sapping approach of the Arlans’ boxer.
Miras Zhakupov of the Arlans put Ronny Beblik under serious pressure in their bout at Flyweight. The Kazakh boasted a record of 5-2, while the German came to the ring with the unfortunate record of 0-5. Though the German boxer was game, he was ultimately out-gunned by his Kazakh opponent.
Coming up next
The Astana Arlans Kazakhstan must now wait to see whether they will face Season II winners, the Dolce & Gabbana Italia Thunder or fellow Group B graduates, the Azerbaijan Baku Fires. That match takes place later tonight with the “Bad Boys” from Azerbaijan going in with a 5-0 head start following their success last weekend in Baku.
Italy 4-1 Azerbaijan: Nistor feels the heat
There was a dramatic climax to the Dolce & Gabbana Italia Thunder’s season, with the Azerbaijan Baku Fires doing just enough to secure passage to the World Series of Boxing (WSB) semi-finals.
In the end it all came down to an error from experienced Italia Thunder boxer Mihai Nistor, who, after dominating for five rounds, chose to aggressively re-engage with his opponent rather than seeing the match to safety… And got knocked out for his trouble with just 25 seconds away from a certain win. The result spectacularly ended the Thunder’s challenge for Season IV.
Bout of the match
Andrew Selby was in excellent form against Elvin Mamishzada. Both boxers fought a very technical bout in what was a real game of cat and mouse. That is precisely what you would expect form two boxers with eleven victories in the WSB between them and no defeats. The Azeri, after losing the first two rounds, got himself ahead in the third. Selby began to chase. As a strong counter puncher, this is not his strongest suit and it played into the game that Mamishzada wanted to play. The Welshman did enough though to win the round back and ultimately hold on for the win.
Boxer of the matc
Super Heavyweight Mihai Nistor came out like the whirlwind that made him the discovery of the season for last year’s champions the Astana Arlans Kazakhstan. His only losses so far had come in his debut and in last year’s final to Olympic Champion Oleksandr Usyk, which was a close one.
Like Selby he has been arguably under-deployed by the Thunder this year, but he made his presence felt early, stunning his opponent Arslanbek Makhmudov in the first round to the extent that the tall Azeri was lucky to make it back to his corner. The match continued that way for the remainder of the five rounds with the Fires boxer barely hanging on. Things got so bad that the commentator began to openly speculate that the corner would have to throw in the towel… Then in the final minute, Nistor got tagged a few times and ended up taking a standing eight count. Rather than accepting this and backing off to shut the match down, he instead lost his cool and went in to make a statement.
He was soon on the canvas, but got away with a dubious protestation that he had simply slipped. Failing to take this second chance to stay away from his opponent, he plunged straight back into the Frey and just a moment later, 25 seconds from the final bell, the Azeri produced a shot to the side of the head that both dropped Nistor like a sack of spuds, and sent the Italians crashing out of the tournament. All Nistor needed to do was play safe, but instead he risked it all by charging in one last time. Nistor was so nearly Boxer of the Match for his incredible performance for 4 and three quarter rounds; instead, that award must now go to his opponent Makhmudov!
The turning point
Welterweights Vincenzo Mangiacapre and Mahamed Nurudzinau were both excellent in an extremely close bout. Within the context of the two legged match of course, this bout was an irrelevance following the above result. Still, Italia Thunder had their dignity to preserve, along with their unbeaten home record. They needed to secure two more wins to at least retain that formidable four-year long record into next season.
The psychological pressures facing Mangiacapre must have been huge, not least with the disappointment he must have been carrying to the ring, knowing the team were not going to the semi-finals. The Fires boxer had no intentions of making life easy for the Italian star either, and pushed him hard. But Mangiacapre hung tough and earned his sixth WSB victory to keep Italian pride alive. The importance of a cool head at that stage was crucial for the Italians.
Quote of the match
“Nistor was coasting to victory… Coasting is the only word for it… And then suddenly, the real Makhmudov appeared. […] It may go down in WSB history; a boxer that was so far ahead on points, that all he had to do was stay out of trouble for a few seconds, instead went forward and got knocked out at such a critical time” – WSB commentator
Wrap up
Domenico Valentino had a hard fight with Albert Selimov at Lightweight. The Azeri boxer had only ever previously lost in the WSB to the great Vasyl Lomachenko, the double Olympic gold medallist. Selimov proved yet again why this is the case in a display of tenaciousness against the 2009 World Champion from Italy. This could easily have been bout of the night, were it not for some unfortunate head-clashes. One of these ended the bout early after both fighters received cuts from an accidental head collision in the final round. But it was certainly the most competitive bout of the evening all the same.
2011 World silver medallist Teymur Mammadov took on Abdelhafid Benchabla of the Italia Thunder in the last bout of the evening. This was another exquisitely boxed encounter with both athletes demonstrating considerable acumen and ring-craft. It was the Algerian Benchabla who took the win, which ultimately heaped much of the blame for the defeat on the plate of Nistor. Had he held on for just half a minute more, the match would have gone to a decider, which on paper at least, Italy looked likely to win through British boxer Joe Joyce.
Coming up next
The Azerbaijan Baku Fires will now progress to the semis against fellow Group B graduates, the Astana Arlans Kazakhstan. In the Regular Season, both teams won their respective home matches 4-1. That indicates that it could be a close one.
