Friday sees the conclusion of the exciting World Series of Boxing semi-finals as Baku Fires do battle against Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder and Dynamo Moscow face Astana Arlans in the return legs. This promises to be two explosive fixtures with the teams going all out to claim a place for the Team Final on 2 May at the ExCeL in London.
Baku Fires vs. Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder (aggregate score 0:5)
No one had predicted such an emphatic scoreline for the Italian outfit when these two teams met in the first leg in Milan. It was an unforgettable night for the Thunder, but one surely to erase from memory for Baku, who had been so strong during the whole season but somehow seemed to come unstuck during this most crucial match. With the Azeri outfit having worked so hard to get to this point and with such an array of talent within their squad, many considered them favourites to go all the way. To readdress the balance from their first leg deficit, the home team now needs to win all five fights to force the sudden death bout. It will be an uphill battle but if any team can do it, surely it is the team from Azerbaijan.
In the opening Bantamweight bout, the impressive 21-year-old Russian Magomed Kurbanov lines-up for Baku Fires, having won his two previous bouts. He will face the 2008 Olympic Games bronze medallist Veaceslav Gojan from Moldova, who boasts an impressive international pedigree. It will be an intriguing contest and could define how the evening progresses.
Following on from this match-up, Baku’s Isa Isayev and Juan Javier Carrasco Herrera go head-to-head in the Lightweight tussle. Isayev has only fought once this season but there have been some extremely positive scouting reports about this emerging 21-year-old Azeri talent. The local southpaw will face the quick-mover from Argentina, who at just 19 years of age has enjoyed quite some success already. This will be a fight between two young men trying to make a name for themselves in this competition.
The spectators will be eagerly awaiting the Heybulla Mursalov vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko fight. This Middleweight contest will be an exact replica of the Individual Championships final with these two having the opportunity of getting acquainted in the ring before the big show this June. Milano’s Derevyanchenko is undefeated in his eleven career WSB fights, with four of those wins coming by TKO and he is also last season’s WSB Champion following some terrific displays. It will be a tall order for Mursalov but as the second ranked boxer in this division, if anyone can challenge Derevyanchenko, then it must be the calculating 21-year-old orthodox Azeri. This is by far the bout of the evening.
After his hard-fought win in the quarter-finals against Mumbai’s Paul Koon, the imposing 195cm frame of 26-year-old Ukranian Denys Poyatsyka will once again get the opportunity of showing his worth to the Baku Fires. The Heavyweight will face Milano’s Benjey Zimmerman, who will be fighting for the first time this season. The popular orthodox from the Netherlands Antilles is a deceptively quick puncher for his size so Poyatsyka will have to be at his best if he hopes to defeat his rival.
Dynamo Moscow vs. Astana Arlans (2:3)
This one on the other hand is delicately poised; it will be a real nail-biter in the Russian capital. Astana Arlans travel with a slender lead following an impressive performance in the first leg. They will remember though that when they visited Moscow during the regular season they were resoundingly beaten 5:0 by a rampant Dynamo. Both teams will be determined to progress to the Team Final so expect some enthralling fights in this one.
AIBA World Boxing Championships Baku 2011 bronze medallist Anvar Yusunov is a lightning quick southpaw from Tajikistan who has rewarded Moscow with three wins in his Bantamweight contests so far this season. He will hope to be able to add another victory to that count when he faces 24-year-old Rafikjon Sultonov from Uzbekistan. Yusunov has both the reach advantage and the experience to overawe his opponent, though the last time these two met, Sultonov was the one to triumph. So there is a lot at stake here, not only a vital win for their team but pride as well.
Top ranked Lightweight, Russian Adlan Abdurashidov, has really come to the fore this season, taking four wins for Dynamo Moscow and booking in style his place for the Individual Championships. This 21-year-old orthodox fighter already has some big names as scalps, the most notable one being Milano’s Valentino, but he will face the biggest test of this campaign against last season’s top ranked boxer in the division, Yerzhan Mussafirov. This clash will see sparks fly as Abdurashidov looks to consolidate his position as the best Lightweight whereas Mussafirov will want to prove to his team mates that he was not a one-season wonder. It will be a riveting contest.
28-year-old Russian Maxim Gazizov will have his hands full when he takes to the ring for Dynamo Moscow, as he will be pitted against knock-out sensation Kanat Slam in the Middleweight fight. Gazizov’s only defeat this season has come against the division’s top man, Derevyanchenko. Pride of Kazakhstan Slam has a two win two losses record compared to his five-one in the previous campaign but the noise from the Arlans camp is that he is hitting form at the just the right time so expect this one to be electric.
Unbeaten Ukrainian Oleksandr Gvozdyk is an extremely tall fighter for a Light Heavyweight and he will be trying to use this to his advantage when he faces Algerian superstar and WSB Individual Champion Abdelhafid Benchabla. Moscow’s Gvozdyk is a two-time National Champion and a veteran of two AIBA World Boxing Championships and at 24 years old is still developing. Benchabla is technically one of the best fighters in the whole competition and knows just how to win with a record of eleven wins and one loss during his two WSB seasons so far. Following an unexpected loss in his first fight this season, which he blamed on the wrong shoes, Benchabla has since bulldozed his way past all of his opponents, and has just got better coming into this critical time. Astana have looked to him for inspiration and lately he has provided them with just that. This one is guaranteed to get all boxing fans out of their seats.
Astana Arlans’s other Algerian is Chouaib Bouloudinats, a powerful and skilful Heavyweight that has really matured this season, adopting a more clinical and measured approach to his fights. This has seen him take three wins in as many bouts up to now. To face him, Dynamo Moscow will line-up the young orthodox Russian Vitaly Kudukhov, who can beat anyone on his day. When it comes to Heavyweight contests, this is one you will not want to take your eyes off.
If Dynamo Moscow wins this tie 3:2, then both teams will be equal on aggregate, forcing a Lightweight sudden death bout to decide what team makes it to the final. If so, the responsibility will be laid upon the shoulders of Eduard Husainov for Moscow and the Arlans’ Adlet Yegizekov. Both fighters have the same record in this competition with one win and one loss apiece so it will be very evenly matched.
