World Series of Boxing Update: Top North American & European Teams Face Off this Week, Full Match List

The top two teams in the Americas and European conferences of the World Series of Boxing go head-to-head this week in crucial matches. Leaders Los Angeles Matadors host second-placed Miami Gallos at the Nokia Theatre on Thursday evening with a comfortable four-point lead over their opponents in the team standings. Paris United, on the other hand, will be looking to exploit their home advantage to the full against Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder, who they lead by a two-bout margin after five weeks of competition.

The first bout of the week will be the first rematch in the Americas conference as Fernando Martinez (Argentina) of the Los Angeles Matadors once again faces Jose Luis Meza (Ecuador) of the Gallos in a South-American duel. The two met in week one of the competition, when Martinez beat Meza on points. The Gallos’ latest Irish signing John Joe Joyce enters the fray at middleweight against Russel Lamour of the Matadors, while his compatriot Kenny Egan’s return to the ring after injury has been thwarted after his opponent Dorian Anthony did not make yesterday’s weigh-in due to an elbow injury.
The Mexico City Guerreros travel to Memphis on Saturday looking for their first away win. Three boxers will be making their debut for the Guerreros, including two signed over the Christmas break. Josip Duric from Croatia will contest the middleweight bout and new signings Kennedy Katende from Sweden (the first representative for Scandinavia in the World Series of Boxing) and Jose Payares from Venezuela will fight in the light heavyweight and heavyweight bouts respectively.

Paris United’s home encounter with Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder on Friday night could be decisive in the outcome of the European conference. The middleweight contest will be a battle of the newcomers as Michel Tavares steps in to replace Stéphane Cuevas, who picked up an injury in training, and Diego Di Luisa makes his debut for Milan. Ireland’s John Joe Nevin, number three in the individual rankings at bantamweight, will be the only international boxer in action for Paris on Friday as team owner Brahim Asloum goes all out to exploit the home advantage.

The Moscow Kremlin Bears travel to Istanbul for Friday’s match with third-placed Istanbulls. In the lightweight contest, Bunyamin Aydin will be looking to go the distance in a re-match against Adlan Abdurashidov after losing to the Russian by technical knock-out in week one of the competition. Istanbulls heavyweight Oleksiy Sivko, ranked second in the individual standings, faces 19-year-old debutant Sherip Daudov. With top-ranked Baku Fires heavyweight Magomedrasul Medzhidov not in action this week, Sivko has a chance to move to the top of the heavyweight standings, but will need an almost perfect score to do so.

Overall WSB leaders Baku Fires travel to Macau to face the Beijing Dragons at the Venetian Hotel on Saturday. With a five-point lead over main rivals the Astana Arlans in the Asian conference, Baku are resting some of their key personnel and have selected two boxers to make their debuts this week: Mongolia’s Tugstsogt Nyambayar, silver medalist at the 2009 AIBA World Championships and quarterfinalist at last year’s Youth World Championships in Baku, starts at bantamweight. Rizvan Alimuradov, a naturalized Azeri citizen who won last year’s Umakhanov Memorial tournament for Russia, makes his debut at light heavyweight.

Merey Akshalov will be looking to extend his 1-0 record for the Astana Arlans as they host the Incheon Red Wings at the Daulet Sports Complex on Saturday. Akshalov faces a rematch against the Red Wings’ Bahodirjon Sultonov from Uzbekistan, who he beat on points in the first week of the season. Saturday’s Astana squad includes three new signings: Beijing bronze medalist Slam Kanat, who has changed both nationality (from Chinese to Kazakh) and name (from Silamu Hanati) to compete in the WSB, debuts at middleweight; Ramzjon Ahmedov from Uzbekistan will make his debut for the Arlans at light heavyweight, where he will face his compatriot Ahrorbek Qoorbonov; Sardor Abdullaev – also from Uzbekistan and gold medallist at the 2008 World Military Championships – completes the Astana team in the heavyweight division.

Team Lists for Week 6

EUROPE

AMERICAS

ASIA