Mexico Guerreros knocked out Azerbaijan Baku Fires in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) quarter-final stages with a 6-4 aggregate victory in Guba, Azerbaijan.
After defeating Azerbaijan 4-1 in the first leg, Mexico began the action on the second night knowing they only needed to win two matches to qualify for the semi-finals, and eliminate the Season IV finalists away from home.
At the end of five engrossing bouts, the Baku Fires won the leg 3-2, but due to the two Mexican victories it was the South American Franchise who won the right to meet defending WSB Champions Cuba Domadores in the semi-finals.
The night began with a win for Azerbaijan at Flyweight (52 kg) where 4-1 Murad Rabadanov widely outpointed Mexico’s Orlando Huitzil Ahuatl.
Rabadanov was sharp from the opening moments of the bout, and exhibited both a tight defence and adventurous attacks which resulted in all three judges awarding him every round of the fight.
Mexican Lightweight (60 kg) Lindolfo Delgado claimed his fifth victory of the season, and a valuable first triumph in the second leg for his team, with a points victory over 1-1 Nasraddin Mammadov.
Delgado is an incredibly resilient boxer with a terrific work ethic, but he was made to work hard in every minute of this fight by the talented Mammadov, who is a very intriguing prospect.
Although he lost the first two rounds, Delgado regrouped and controlled the rest of the action to claim a unanimous points win.
Welterweight (69 kg) Héctor Andrés Reyes Anguiano sealed Mexico’s qualification as they built up an unassailable lead following his stoppage of Baku Fires debutant Orkhan Khasmammadov.
Despite losing the quarter-final after that clash, Azerbaijan continued to compete in the spirited fashion that has defined their WSB tenure, and they evened up the scoring in the second leg at Light heavyweight (81 kg) when Mikhail Dauhaliavets narrowly subjected Ecuador’s Carlos Mina to his first defeat of the season.
This was the most evenly matched fight in Guba, but the overall experience of Dauhaliavets was just enough to outshine the talented Mina by just one point on all three scorecards.
The Baku Fires claimed the second leg win with a dominant Super heavyweight (91+ kg) performance from 3-1 Haji Murtuzaliyev against 2-4 Edgar Ramirez.
Boxing is out of SportAccord World Combat Games
The AIBA President, Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, said “We have aimed to create a clear identity for the sport of boxing in the past 8 years of my Presidency. Boxing is a Noble Art and a traditional Olympic sport and we feel that the participation in the World Combat Games challenges this identity among boxing fans”.
He also added that “It is with much regret that we suspend our membership with SportAccord with immediate effect. AIBA’s work is based on the Olympic values and it is the values of integrity and respect that we must protect first and foremost”.
AIBA had been a member of SportAccord since 1967 and had previously participated in SportAccord World Combat Games in Saint-Petersburg in 2013 and in Beijing in 2010.
