With six match weekends left to determine who qualifies for the play-offs in April, competition in the World Series of Boxing intensifies further this weekend with rematches of the week six encounters. Nowhere is the competition fiercer than in Europe, where Paris United and Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder, separated by only one win, once again face off in Paris on Friday in a match that will feature three of the top-ranked boxers in the competition.
Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder face another crunch match as they travel to Paris to face European conference leaders Paris United on Friday. On the previous encounter two weeks ago, Paris United’s home victory was enough to lose the Milan team the coveted best runners-up spot, which will ultimately decide the fourth and final team to go through to the play-offs.
The Paris squad chosen for this week has an impressive 11-1 WSB record and includes two top-ranked boxers, bantamweight John Joe Nevin and light heavyweight Ludovic Groguhe. Milano Thunder are replying with their own top-ranked boxer, Sergiy Derevyanchenko of the Ukraine at middleweight, and new signing Tommy McCarthy from Northern Ireland at light heavyweight, who becomes the first British national to compete in the World Series of Boxing.
Memphis Force host the Mexico City Guerreros at the Desoto Civic Center on Thursday night and will start week seven of the competition desperately looking for a win. Their last home victory dates back to November 26 last year, since when they have dropped four events in a row. Yahman Phelps will be looking to make his mark on a rematch of his previous encounter with Angel Gutierrez in the lightweight contest, which Phelps lost by walkover last time.
The Mexico City Guerreros have a young squad in action this week, with an average age of just over 20, and will be hoping to repeat their away win against the Force in week six to move closer to Americas conference leaders the Los Angeles Matadors. The L.A. team has a six-point advantage over their rivals and will face the Miami Gallos at the Avalon Hollywood on Sunday.
Three new Russian boxers will debut for the Moscow team in Istanbul on Friday night, including 2008 Youth World Championships silver medalist Grigoriy Nikolaychuk, who will take on the unbeaten Mehmet Topcakan in the bantamweight opener. The Istanbulls also have a new signing, Ireland’s David Oliver Joyce, making his debut at lightweight. Heavyweight Mohammed Arjaoui from Morocco is the only boxer in action for the Istanbulls on Friday who has lost a bout this season.
The boxers in the Beijing Dragons squad that will host overall WSB leaders Baku Fires in Macau on Saturday have yet to win a bout between them. Baku have brought two boxers for rematches at bantamweight and lightweight, since Magomed Abdulhamidov and Ramal Amanov both beat their opponents for this week in the opening match last November. 22-year-old Abdulkadir Abdullayev makes his debut for the Baku team in this week’s heavyweight contest against 18-year-old Xiangyang Cheng.
Having leapfrogged Milano Thunder into the spot as best runners-up after their last match, the Astana Arlans will be looking to secure their position as they travel to Korea to face the re-baptised Pohang Poseidons in the Pohang Indoor Sport Gymnasium on Saturday.
Moldova’s Victor Cotiujanschii will be looking to get off the mark for the home team as he faces a rematch of his week one encounter against Alibi Nurmatov in the middleweight bout. The second foreign boxer in action for the Poseidons is Algeria’s Abdelhafid Benchabla, who will face 2009 AIBA President’s Cup bronze medalist Ramzjon Ahmedov in the light heavyweight bout. Benchabla is unbeaten so far this season and is second in the individual rankings, but his position could be under threat from either of his two closest unbeaten rivals, Enrico Kolling of the Istanbulls and Zhavlonbek Usmanov of the Moscow Kremlin Bears, who face each other on Friday.
Click here for full team lists for week 7 of the 2010-2011 WSB regular season
