Home Amateur & Olympic WSB semifinal slots to be decided this weekend

WSB semifinal slots to be decided this weekend

March 8, 2012

With three of the quarter-finals delicately poised after the first leg ties, the action resumes this weekend with the return fixtures. The winners will advance to the last four of the World Series Boxing (WSB) knock-out stages.

This Friday we have three quality matches on offer with Dynamo Moscow versus Leipzig Leopards, followed by Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder hosting Paris United and then Mexico City Guerreros do battle with Astana Arlans. Saturday the Venky’s Mumbai Fighters travel to Azerbaijan to face Baku Fires in the last of match of this quarter-final line-up.

Milan vs. Paris (aggregate score 2:3)

Despite forfeiting the Bantamweight contest, Paris United took charge of the first leg at the Stade Pierre-de-Coubertin in the French capital, with an impressive performance that saw the big guns deliver when it mattered. Croatian duo Hrvoje Sep and Filip Hrgovic along with Irish Lightweight sensation John Joe Nevin did the business for Paris last Monday.

This time around, Milano will look to use the home advantage at the Mediolanum Forum to progress to the next phase of the competition. Leading the charges will be Italian Heavyweight superstar Clemente Russo, and fan favourite Vicenzo PIcardi, in the Bantamweight contest. Brazilian Pedro Lima will look to power past his opponent in the Middleweight showdown as the Hungarian duo of Miklos Varga and Imre Szello make up the Italian Franchise’s quintet.

Paris United on the other hand played their strong card in the first fixture and their squad now looks stretched and exposed with most of their boxers lacking WSB experience. But you never know, at this stage of this competition anything is possible and with the French outfit holding a slight advantage, it will be up to Milano to take the initiative.

Mexico vs. Astana (2:3)

This is another match on a knife-edge, Mexico City Guerreros will look to use the conditions at fortress Foro Polanco to their advantage against Astana Arlans, as they have done throughout the season. Even with a walk-over, the Mexican outfit acquitted themselves really well in the first leg, narrowly losing out with Kennedy Katende off-par. There has been fighting talk from both coaches in the build-up so this promises to be a cracker.

The Guerreros will have Braulio Avila Juarez looking to outmanoeuvre his opponent in the Bantamweight showdown before Uzbek orthodox Hurshid Tojibaev goes all-out in typical style in Lightweight fight. The impressive 23-year-old Bulgarian Mladen Manev has the unenviable task of facing knock-out king Kanat Slam in the evening’s third bout. Mexican poster-boy Francisco Javier Ortega will come up against last year’s WSB Light Heavyweight Champion Abdelhafid Benchabla in what promises to be a classic. Hard-hitting Ecuadorian Jorge Quinonez is then the home team’s big Heavyweight proposition.

Astana have brought out their big players in the hope of overcoming their first leg deficit. Rafikjon Sultonov is lined-up to face Avila Juarez and exciting southpaw Samat Bashenov gets the nod to fight in the Lightweight contest. With Slam and Benchabla in the mix, there will be fireworks for sure. Hungary’s Istvan Bernath will be the brawn at Heavyweight.

Baku vs. Mumbai (2:3)

After creating the sensation of the round by inflicting a first defeat of the season on the irrepressible Baku Fires, Venky’s Mumbai Fighters will look to defy the odds once again when they travel to the Olympic Sports Centre in the heart of the Azeri capital. Uaine Fa and Charly Suarez were the leading light in India last time around but this weekend, the beacon will be passed on to a new line-up.

Baku will look to exact revenge in front of their home fans. Three local fighters in Isa Isayev, and two Individual Championships finalists in Heybulla Mursalov and Ramazan Magomedau will seek to inflict the damage during the evening’s proceedings. Russia’s Bantamweight Magomed Kurbanov and 26-year-old Ukrainian Heavyweight Denys Poyatsyka will want to make the scoreline a comprehensive one.

Mumbai on the other hand have a few tricks up their sleeve with Ukrainian pocket dynamo Ivan Ilnytskyy testing his skills against Kurbanov in the Bantamweight contest. The eager Diwakar Prasad, who has started off brightly but petered out in the latter stages of his bouts this season, will relish the challenge of facing 21-year-old newcomer Isayev. Konstantin Snigour, a revelation since joining the Fighters during the mid-season transfer window, will surely test Mursalov all the way. Leonid Charnabayeu will have a tall ask against Magomedau before all eyes turn to Heavyweight sensation Paul Koon who is an awesome proposition at Heavyweight.

Should this match go to the sudden death decider, in case of an aggregate score draw after the evening’s five fights, then 2011 AIBA World Championships Silver medallist and Azeri sensation Teymur Mammadov could make his debut in the competition.

Moscow vs. Leipzig Leopards (5:0)

With this match pretty much won for the Russian outfit, Dynamo Moscow, it will be a formality in terms of scoreline against a depleted Leipzig Leopards. But this does not mean we are not guaranteed a show.

Moscow have some very demanding fans and the team will want to deliver on the night. Vladimir Nikitin packs a lot of power for a Bantamweight. In the Lightweight contest, we will once again be able to feast our eyes on one of the most accomplished boxers in the whole of the WSB competition, Vazgen Safaryants. The 27-year-old southpaw has an unblemished seven wins no losses in his career to date and expect him to muscle his way to an eighth victory. Aleksandr Ivanov just seems to get better and better and with a TKO in his last contest, the fleet-footed orthodox could do some serious damage. Eduard Yakushev and Arslanbek Makhmudov will be showcasing their skills in the Light Heavy and Heavyweight bouts respectively.

For Leipzig, Danish Nordic Champions Dennis Ceylan and Rashid Kassem will hope to re-address the balance in the early stages before Dutchman Stephen Danyo battles in the Middleweight contest. WSB newcomers Sergey Mikhel and Eric Brechlin, both from Germany, will seek to somehow defy expectations and tie the match. It will be mission impossible but you never know.