BAKU FIRES AND ASTANA ARLANS BOTH ON TRACK FOR THE PLAY-OFFS: WSB Week 10 Asia Results
In the WSB Asian conference, Baku Fires and Astana Arlans both took decisive steps towards the play-offs this weekend with convincing shut-outs of their opponents. The Baku Fires recovered from their first defeat last week against the Pohang Poseidons to exact their revenge in their usual style with a 5-0 away win against the same team on Saturday.
The Astana Arlans took a 5-0 home victory against the Beijing Dragons on Sunday to end the weekend five points behind leaders Baku with only two weeks of the regular season left.
World Championship silver medalist Tugstsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia) got the day off to a good start for the Fires on Saturday with his third win of the season, beating Dongsik Seo in the bantamweight contest.
Azerbaijan’s Gaybatulla Gadzhialiyev then led the charge for the home country boxers with a second victory for the visitors in the lightweight bout. It was the 19 year old’s debut for the Fires.
Soltan Migitinov cruised to a third win on points by unanimous decision for the Fires in the middleweight contest, extending his WSB record to 5-0 on the season and displacing Milano Thunder’s Sergiy Derevyanchenko at the top of the individual rankings.
With the match already won for the visitors, it was left to Ramazan Magomedau and Magomedrasul Medzhidov to put in workmanlike performances to take the 5-0 clean sweep and secure first and second place in their respective individual rankings at light heavyweight and heavyweight.
The Astana Arlans shut out the Beijing Dragons in the home ring on Sunday with Pedro Lima (Brazil) of the Beijing Dragons suffering his first defeat of the season against Beijing bronze medallist Slam Kanat of the Astana Arlans. The loss leaves Lima in fourth place in the individual rankings at middleweight behind fellow countryman Yamaguchi Florentino of the Mexico City Guerreros.
Yerzhan Mussafirov of the Astana Arlans moved ahead of Rachid Azzedine to claim first place in the individual lightweight rankings after beating Lei Fang by a unanimous decision.
The impressive Astana Arlans team took four consecutive victories by unanimous decision before heavyweight Sardor Abdullaev closed out the match with a technical knock-out inside the distance against Zhihua Ma.
The win sees Astana reclaim the best second place team spot from Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder, putting them back on track to qualify for the play-offs. The two teams are tied on 23 points each but Astana have won 36 bouts to Milan’s 30.
PARIS STAY TOP AFTER CLOSE VICTORY IN ISTANBUL; MOSCOW KREMLIN BEARS UPSET MILANO THUNDER: Week 10 Europe Results
Paris United remain top of the European conference after beating the Istanbulls away on Friday night. The Moscow Kremlin Bears upset second placed Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder on Saturday night, giving Paris United a three-point cushion with two weeks of competition remaining.
In the bantamweight opener in Istanbul Nordine Oubaali’s regularity was unwavering as he cruised to a fifth consecutive victory and re-assert his position at the top of the individual rankings.
Sweden’s Redouane Kaya responded for the home team with his first WSB victory as his lightweight bout against Artur Schmidt was stopped in the third round.
Alexis Vastine’s position in the individual standings suffered after the French middleweight was unable to make the weigh-in in Istanbul after injuring his ribs in training earlier in the week. With Paris United’s only available reserve boxer, Stéphane Cuevas, serving a medical suspension, the middleweight contest was a walkover for Turkey’s 2010 national champion Onder Sipal.
Croatia’s Hrvoje Sep levelled the scores in Paris United’s favour with a win on points by unanimous decision against Constantin Bejenaru (Romania) in the light heavyweight bout, setting his team mate and compatriot Filip Hrgovic up for a thrilling finale against an unbeaten Oleksiy Sivko (Ukraine) of the Istanbulls.
Hrgovic, 2010 World Youth Champion, came out strong using his superior height and reach to his advantage. But there was little to separate the two boxers over four rounds and all three judges had the boxers tied at 38 points each after 12 minutes of action.
The match therefore depended on the final three minutes of the evening and, with both boxers visibly tiring, the contest was too close to call. After a few moments of nail-biting wait, it was Hrgovic who clinched an exceedingly close victory by split decision, 47-48, 48-47, 48-47 to earn a valuable three points for his team.
The Moscow Kremlin Bears powered ahead of Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder to seal the match before the heavyweight contest. Alikhan Avtorkhanov got the ball rolling for the home team with his first win of the season in the bantamweight bout against Vittorio Parrinello of the Thunder.
Vazgen Safaryants (Belarus) replied for the visitors in the lightweight encounter to beat Ziyodulla Hadiyatullaev with a win on points by unanimous decision to extend his season record to 3-0 and climb to sixth in the individual standings.
Things then turned for the home team as Sukhrab Shidaev took the win for the home team inside nine minutes at middleweight before Ali Musaev sealed the match with a spectacular first-round knock-out on his light heavyweight debut.
With the match sewn up for the Moscow Kremlin Bears, Clemente Russo eked out a win in a close heavyweight finale to secure his top spot in the individual rankings.
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