Keen followers of the World Series of Boxing, may have noticed that the potential for a rather radical change in the standings exists this week.
With the Germans perhaps believing that closest rivals, the Argentina Condors, will be contained by the Italia Thunder this week, they have taken the calculated risk of fielding a less-experienced team away to the Algeria Desert Hawks, who currently lie some four points behind them, and resting their star boxers.
However, the Hawks have announced their strongest team of the season to date, and there is a real chance of them causing an upset in Algiers. If they can take advantage of the situation and claim the full three points, they could find themselves ahead of Argentina and in a playoff position at the end of the weekend, just one point behind the Eagles themselves. An interesting proposition.
USA Knockouts vs. Ukraine Otamans
The Knockouts are opting to completely shake things up and hand debuts to their entire team this weekend in the hope that the new blood will throw a spanner into the works of the current group leaders, the Ukraine Otamans, in their home match in Miami. The visitors meanwhile have sent a mixed bag of experience and fresh talent.
Season III sensation Ivan Golub steps in for Dmytro Mytrofanov at the last minute to make his first appearance this season at Middleweight (75kg). At 4-0, the Ukrainian hasn’t yet lost in the WSB, including three successes against some of the WSB’s biggest names such as Michael Tavares (Italia Thunder)) and Konstantin Snigur of the Asana Arlans. Thus it would represent a significant upset if Marlo Delgado Suarez of the Dominican Republic was able to out-match Golub on his WSB debut.
Talented young Indian Boxer Shiva Thapa may be one to watch for the Knockouts at Bantamweight (56kg) however. The former Youth Olympic Games silver medallist will be the first Indian to box in the WSB since Season II and, if he can adjust to the format fast enough, he may be a handful for the more experienced Mykola Butsenko. Two Chinese boxers will be turning out for the Knockouts in the form of Lu Bin at Light Flyweight (46-49kg) and Xuanxuan Wang at Heavyweight (91kg). Wang will be facing the extremely tough Denys Poyatsyka who is 4-4 in the WSB. Bin has a better draw on paper against Vadym Kudryakov who is 1:0 in his WSB career. This will be a very stern test indeed for the Knockouts new boys.
Algeria Desert Hawks vs. Team Germany
The Desert Hawks are boosted by the return of World silver medalist Mohamed Flissi to the fold. Flissi is a perfect example of why a boxer’s WSB record may not tell the whole tale. A London 2012 Olympian with a 1:2 WSB record, Flissi fought up a weight group in the old WSB Bantamweight (50-54kg) category last season. Now able to compete at his more natural category (Light Fly) and having just battled his way to the finals of the AIBA World Boxing Championships Almaty 2013 at that weight, the Algerians will now be hopping that his true talent will shine through. With his opponent being the less-experienced debutant, Serge Neumann, he stands a good chance of going some way to improving his record this weekend.
With Flissi’s return, the Desert Hawks are fielding their most impressive line-up so far this season. WSB Light Welterweight (64kg) veteran Abdelkader Chadi brings his 6-3-1 record, acquired through boxing in all four WSB seasons, to the ring, as does Heavyweight Chouaib Bouloudinats (10-5). Bouloudinats will want to atone for his Week 4 loss to Yamil Peralta of the Argentina Condors when he faces German WSB debutant Johann Witt.
At Middleweight, the Desert Hawks are also fielding London 2012 Olympian Ilyas Abbadi who is 3-1 in the WSB but who also impressed in the World Championships last year. He will be one to watch as he takes on Xhek Paskali (2-3).
Dolce & Gabanna Italia Thunder vs. Argentina Condors
The Italia Thunder and their talent rich team are again unleashing a solid looking backbone of experience in their squad this week, whilst also allowing a few new faces to take to the ring.
Boxing fans are particularly looking forward to the WSB debut of Philippine APB boxer Mark Barriga of the Italia Thunder at Light Flyweight. The London 2012 Olympian was unfortunate to draw eventual World Bronze medalist Yosbany Veitia of the Cuba Domadores at an early stage of the World Championships in Almaty. He will be facing Leandro Blanc, who impressed in his debut against the Algeria Desert Hawks earlier in the season.
At Middleweight, 12-7 veteran Michel Tavares of France takes to the ring for the Italian outfit against Carlos Ozan who is just on his second outing in the WSB. Meanwhile at Heavyweight, Hungarian superstar Imre Szello will make his first appearance of the season against Swedish debutant Gabriel Richards of the Condors. This looks like a simple enough test for Szello on paper. He has won his last four bouts and last lost in Week 2 of last season against Irishman Joe Ward.
Cuba Domadores vs. Mexico Guerreros
The Domadores team will take to the ring against the Guerreros, hoping to get slightly less roughed up than they did in their last two outings against the Astana Arlans and the WSB “Bad Boys”, the Baku Fires. Both teams took chunks out of the Cubans, but were unable to break the winning six match streak that dates back to the Domadores’ exhibition match and their first appearance in the WSB in August.
The Domadores line-up shows many of the world class faces we have come to recognize in previous weeks with World Champion Lazaro Alvarez leading the team out at Lightweight (60kg). Jose Larduet who won an astonishing TKO win over Croatian Filip Hrgovic, is back in at Super Heavyweight (91+kg) and Flyweight (52kg) Gerardo Cervantes is being given the chance to atone for his loss in Week 4 to the talented Miras Zhakupov of Astana Arlans Kazakhstan. But there are some new faces as well with Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo deputizing for the Welterweight (69kg) World silver medallist Arisnoidys Despaigne this week to make his debut against Mexican Hector Reyes. At Light Heavyweight (81kg) we will get a first look at Emmanuel Reyes when he steps out against fellow debutant Petru Ciobanu of the Guerreros.
The Guerreros by contrast are fielding a team of the future with Super Heavyweight Gerardo Bisbal from Puerto Rico, bringing his excellent 6-2 record to the table. Realistically, the Mexicans will need Bisbal to be at his best and for either Hector Reyes or Ciobanu to snatch a win over their fellow debutants for the team to sneak out of Havana with a point, which would be a result no one else has yet achieved.
Azerbaijan Baku Fires vs. Astana Arlans Kazakhstan
This looks like it could be the most competitive match of the weekend, with the Azeri’s in fine form at the moment and fielding a very strong team against the defending champions. The Arlans are boosted by the return of their star Samat Bashenov at Lighweight. Their 6-2 boxer hasn’t fought since Week 2 but will have his work cut out for him against the Fires’ Albert Selimov. The Azeri has only ever lost to the great Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko and was the 2010 European Champion. The two have never met in the WSB and this could well be the bout of the weekend.
Unless of course it is usurped by the Super Heavyweight bout between the Arlans’ Ruslan Myrsatayev and Haji Murtuzaliyev, who with 25 bouts and only nine losses between them could also put on an impressive show. The advantage on paper seems to lie with the Kazakh (12-4), but in this sport you never can tell.
The Fires will want to capitalise on their positive showing in their last outing against Cuba and try to secure their playoff place, whilst the Alpha Wolves will be keen to shut the door firmly behind them to see off the Russian challenge to their second place in the group. That could be very important in the long run as it could mean facing the second placed team in Group A, (which is currently the dangerous Season II winners Italia Thunder) or the third placed team.
Hussars Poland vs. Russian Boxing Team
If you thought that the Cubans would be every team’s biggest match of the year, think again. There is no bigger match for the Hussars Poland than when they host their local rivals, the Russian Boxing Team. But if they were hoping that the Russians may save some of their top talent for the trip to the team at the bottom of the table, they will be disappointed. The visitors will open the evening with World Champion Misha Aloian at Flyweight. Grzegorz Kozlowski, who currently boasts a disappointing 0-3 record, will very much have his work cut out for him.
The Hussars may have a better shot at victory through Dawid Michelus (2-3) who has wins over the likes of World silver medallist Mohamed Flissi on his CV. He looks very closely matched on paper with Konstantin Bogomaz (1-1), so this should be a nice competitive bout for fans to enjoy. Alexander Besputin will be another to watch on the Russian team, he was the 2012 national champion, which is not an award they hand out very lightly in Russia.
His performances in the World Championships were almost frightening: take this report from the quarter-finals for example: “Alexander Besputin has impressed many in the media section here in Kazakhstan. Several journalists are already discussing his chances of winning outright and giving each other knowing nods when his name is announced. The truth is that he just seems to be a cut above the rest in his category. Extremely strong, fast and with a good technical brain, Besputin is certainly very dangerous. Whether or not he goes all the way, he still produces wonderful boxing that is fantastic to watch, so make sure you don’t miss him in his next outing.”
