Sensational Night of Boxing Ahead As Italia Thunders Welcome The British Lionhearts on Friday in Milan
Week Seven of World Series of Boxing Season VIII begins in the Palazzetto dello Sport in Milan on Friday, when hosts the Italia Thunder take on the British Lionhearts for the second time this season. The previous matchup between the two teams in week five saw the Lionhearts winning 5-0 in Liverpool, leaving the Thunders’ hopes unfulfilled. But the Italian team has proven over the years that it isn’t over until the final bell rings, as they will be looking for a revenge win in front of their home crowd.
European Showdown Sees France Fighting Roosters Face Croatian Knights In Paris on Saturday
France Fighting Roosters face the newcomer WSB Team Croatian Knights in the city of Paris on Saturday night for the second time of the Season. The strong French team have already beaten the Knights 4-1 in Zadar in week five, another win this week could secure them a guaranteed top 5 spot and an automatic birth into the Play-Offs. The Croatian team on the other hand will field a determined young line up in their quest to win as many bouts as possible and potentially what could be their first win of Season VIII.
Patriot Boxing Team welcomes three-time WSB champions Astana Arlans Kazakhstan in St Petersburg on Week 6
The historical city of St Petersburg will welcome week 6 action on Sunday, when hosts the Patriot Boxing Team take on the Astana Arlans for the second time this season. The last time both teams met, the Kazakhs walked away with a 5-0 win in Kokshetau City and the Russians will be looking to make amends in St Petersburg. The hosts’ confidence is high after their 4-1 win over the Indian Tigers in week 5, but the Kazakh team will not be going down without a fight as this matchup will be crucial in deciding who will take the lead in the Asia group.
World Series of Boxing (WSB) is a unique team boxing competition and one of the most exciting sports leagues in the world. Beginning in February 2018, Season VIII sees 12 teams compete in three regional groups; America, Europe and Asia, with home and away matches, consisting of five bouts each, between the group rivals.
The top two teams from each group and the two strongest third-placed teams will qualify for the play-offs, which assume the format of four Quarter-Finals, two Semi-Finals and the grand Final.
The world’s premier boxing series is a hard-fought competition of unparalleled intensity, speed and power, where boxers compete across five rounds, scored using the 10 Points Must system.
Season VIII is set to build on the enormous success of Season VII, and features the stars of the 2017 AIBA World Championships and Rio 2016 Olympic Games. WSB boxers accounted for 23 Olympic medals at the Games, including 6 golds, adding an extra dimension of excitement and competition for both the fans and the boxers.
On the first weekend of February 2018, the bell will ring in a new season of World Series of Boxing, AIBA’s unique global team boxing competition that continues to evolve and entertain all around the world as it enters Season VIII. The format will follow the successful three-group, regional regular season and global play-offs, with the Croatian Knights franchise joining for the first time to battle it out for qualification from Group Europe, while Group Asia welcomes a team from India for the first time. Just as it was last year, all of the action can be enjoyed by boxing fans both via local broadcasters and live streaming on WSB social media channels.
“In terms of the quality and excitement of boxing on show, entertainment and production levels and our global audience reach, WSB Season VII set new standards for our sport. In Season VIII, we can now go even further, with India’s vast and growing appetite for boxing adding a new dimension to the 2018 competition and the Croatian Knights bringing with them all of that great nation’s boxing history,” said AIBA Interim President Franco Falcinelli.
The Astana Arlans will face China Dragons, the all-new India team and Patriot Boxing Team from Russia in Group Asia, while the Croatian Knights will begin their first season against the British Lionhearts, France Fighting Roosters and Italia Thunder in Group Europe. In Group Americas, Season VII Finalists Cuba Domadores will be looking to equal the Arlans’ record and win a third title of their own, but face stiff competition from Colombia Heroicos and Venezuela Caciques.
“After the dramatic Season VII final, Astana Arlans are preparing to make history and assert ourselves once more on the WSB competition. The boxers love the format and it has helped them develop and grow as athletes and the competition has truly brought boxing to new audiences. The team is preparing to defend the title we won last year against Cuba Domadores and we are confident that we can reach our fifth final,” said Astana Arlans Kazakhstan General Manager Sayat Abildin.
Among the boxers taking part will be a host of Champions and medallists from the 2017 AIBA World Championships in Hamburg, and the eleven teams will be able to recruit available national and international boxers to their squads. WSB has now closed its foreign boxer registrations for Season VIII, with 196 foreign entries confirmed from 42 different countries. Boxers at the beginning of their professional careers are welcome to participate. The deadline for teams to recruit from the available list will be mid-January, with the full line-ups to be confirmed shortly after.
“We are delighted to have a Croatian team making its debut in the World Series of Boxing for the first time in Season VIII. The competition is part of our strategy to help our boxers to secure a successful Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification pathway. Several members of the side have already amassed significant WSB experience with the likes of British Lionhearts and Astana Arlans and will be sharing that precious know-how with their teammates, allowing Croatian Knights to go into the competition confident of making a big impact and progressing through to the play-offs,” said Croatian Knights General Manager Mladen Mikolcevic.
Twenty of the best boxers in the world gathered on Friday morning in Astana for the WSB Season VII Weigh-In, with the Astana Arlans Kazakhstan and Cuba Domadores teams both going for a historic third title on Saturday afternoon. The intensity was palpable and the mind-games began early as the Kazakh and Cuban athletes faced-off ahead of what is likely to be one of the greatest matches in WSB history. At the subsequent Press Conference, AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu introduced this year’s Grand Final, joined by key figures from the worlds of Kazakhstan and Cuban boxing and sport.
Astana Arlans Kazakhstan VS Cuba Domadores WSB Season VII Final
“Every year since its inception, we have seen this unique team competition evolve and grow, developing into one of the most eagerly anticipated and exciting events in the boxing calendar. The addition of the team dynamic to what has always been one of the world’s great individual sports has captured the imagination of spectators and franchises alike, its popularity underlining our belief that it is innovations like the WSB that will keep entertaining the fans and breaking new audiences and markets around the world. Good luck to both these teams going for a historic third title,” said AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu.
Astana Arlans Kazakhstan And Cuba Domadores with AIBA President Ching-Kuo Wu,
IMG agrees deal with AIBA to distribute AIBA Men’s World Championships, the Continental Championships and the World Series of Boxing in 2017
IMG, a global leader in sports, events, media and fashion, today announced that it has reached an agreement with the International Boxing Association (AIBA) for the sale and distribution of the worldwide broadcast rights for its events in 2017, including its flagship World Championships.
The deal will see IMG distribute more than 30 hours of live content from the AIBA Men’s World Championships in Hamburg, Germany next September, while it will also sell rights to the AIBA Continental Championships and the World Series of Boxing.
The agreement is an extension of IMG’s existing relationship with AIBA, which helped AIBA distributed the global rights to the APB/WSB Olympic Qualification Tournament in July.
Kristian Hysen, Vice President and Head of Boxing, IMG Media, said: “We are delighted to be working with AIBA again and expanding our boxing portfolio with these properties. With 280 fighters from 80 countries competing at the World Championships, the Continental Championships being hosted across four different continents, and the World Series of Boxing producing over 100 hours of content, all three events have become an attractive proposition to broadcasters and fight channels on a global scale.”
AIBA President Dr Ching-Kuo Wu
Dr Ching-Kuo Wu, President, AIBA said: “We are very satisfied with the agreement, which will ensure that AIBA competitions will reach a worldwide audience. We are working hand-in-hand with all our partners from production to delivery to ensure the spectator experience provides the best possible boxing spectacle for our fans.”
On Wednesday 21 December, the Draft Pick for Season VII of boxing’s unique team competition World Series of Boxing took place in Lausanne, Switzerland, giving the franchises a chance to recruit some extra world-class talent in their pursuit of glory. Beginning in February, the new season will see 12 teams competing across three zonal groups for the prestigious trophy that was won for the second time last year by Cuba Domadores, and several of the sides seized the opportunity to reinforce their teams.
Among the high-profile names drafted were Spanish Light Flyweight (49kg) Samuel Carmona, who comes in to the new-look France Boxing Team along with compatriot Damian Bolequia at Middleweight (75kg). Ireland’s European Games bronze medallist Sean McComb (60kg) and the Swedish Heavyweight (91kg) Gabriel Richards were two of eleven new names recruited by British Lionhearts as they look to build on last year’s superb campaign.
Photo courtesy; AIBA/WSB
Morocco Atlas Lions Drafted in six foreign boxers including Ukrainian Middleweight (75kg) Dmytro Mytrofanov, who boasts an impressive 10-3 WSB record to date. The fourth team to be active during Wednesday’s Draft Pick, Venezuela Caciques, brought in two overseas talents, the Brazilian Super Heavyweight (+91kg) Cosme Dos Santos Nascimento and Ireland’s Darren O’Neill (91kg).
The Draw for Season VII of boxing’s unique team competition the World Series of Boxing was held in Geneva on Wednesday morning (30 November), with acting AIBA Executive Director William Louis-Marie joined by Pat McCormack, Light Welterweight with last year’s runners up British Lionhearts, for the drawing of the teams.
Momentous night of boxing sees the magnificent Cuba Domadores beat the brave British Lionhearts to lift the WSB trophy for a second time
Saturday saw an unforgettable night of WSB boxing in the Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent, as the Cuba Domadores earned their second WSB title in three years with a near-perfect win over the British Lionhearts. The 9-1 scoreline betrayed a gutsy performance from the Lionhearts who worked tirelessly throughout, but only Frazer Clarke was able to break down the flamboyant brilliance of a determined Cuban side.
British Lionhearts look to make history in first WSB final while ever-impressive Cuba Domadores
The opening bout was always going to be a crucial litmus test for both sides, and light flyweights Johanys Argilagos and Galal Yafai put on a great contest for the packed-out crowd. Yafai threatened several times early on but Argilagos seemed to have a reply to everything that came at him, and edged the judges’ score and set his team on the way to a famous win.
And so it proved throughout the match, as the Domadores’ World and Olympic champions were able to reply to the Lionhearts’ attacks with interest. No strangers to the big occasion in their third straight WSB final, the likes of Erislandy Savon and Robeisy Ramirez were imperious in the ring, but the British side will have taken crucial experience from the big occasion. The likes of Dalton Smith and Muhammad Ali boxed without nerves against some of the best in the world, and super heavyweight Frazer Clarke will return home with a smile on his face after stopping Leinier Pero in Round 4 to ensure the Lionhearts got on the scoreboard.
Bold British Lionhearts look to make history in first WSB final while ever-impressive Cuba Domadores seek second title in three years
The Uzbekistan capital of Tashkent is warming up to host the sixth World Series of Boxing final on Saturday 4 June, and whilst the Cuba Domadores are no strangers to this stage of the competition, for the surprise team of Season VI British Lionhearts, performing on one of boxing’s biggest stages will be a career-affirming experience.
The contrast in experience between the Domadores and Lionhearts line-ups is marked. With Olympic champions and multi-time World Champions among the ranks, the majority of the Cuban side have been there and done it in the world of boxing. Their opponents have fully come to terms with the demands of the WSB format during this campaign, however, and shown they know how to win tough on the road.
While it remains to be seen whether the Cuban experience and flair or the Brits’ youthful exuberance will prove more successful, we take a look at some of the key bouts coming up in Saturday’s WSB final.
Light Flyweight (49kg)
Johanys Argilagos (CUB) vs Galal Yafai (GBR)
The opening bout of the Season VI final could set the tone for the match, and both corners will be desperate to get off to a winning start. The responsibility for the Cuban side falls on the shoulders of Johanys Argilagos, the 19 year-old light flyweight who already has a World Championship title and precious experience of a WSB final in the locker. Unbeaten in Season VI so far, Argilagos’ impressive display against Astana Arlans’ Nodirjon Mirzakhmedov in the Semi-Final proved once again that he has the self-belief and natural ability to beat the best in the world.
Equally blessed with an innate talent is his English opponent for the final’s opener, Galal Yafai. A revelation for the Lionhearts so far this season, Yafai’s eye-catching Semi-Final triumph over Kazakhstan’s Yerhan Zhomart was that of a man who has fully come to terms with the unique demands of WSB boxing. The 23 year-old’s speed could hold the secret to his success in Tashkent.
Flyweight (52kg)
Yosbany Veitia (CUB) vs Muhammed Ali (GBR)
Cuban 24 year-old Yosbany Veitia boasts a superb WSB record. 18 wins already under his belt after just three seasons in the competition, Veitia is always one of the first names on the teamsheet for the Domadores, and unanimous wins in this year’s quarters and semis against Mexico’s Jose Rojas and Uzbek Abrorjon Kodirov showed that the southpaw is back to his very best form.
Britain’s Muhammed Ali will have studied Veitia’s Week 7 defeat to Ukrainian Maksym Fatych closely, however, as proof that the Cuban lightweight isn’t undefeatable. The 19 year-old made his WSB debut in Cassablanca with a narrow win over Morocco Atlas Lions’ Abdelai Daraa, before going on to beat USA Knockouts’ Gaurav Bidhuri in Week 8, but the WSB finals will be a huge occasion for the boxer from Bury.
Lightweight (60kg)
Lazaro Alvarez (CUB) vs Luke McCormack (GBR)
Cuba’s lightweight star Lazaro Jorge Alvarez may have only joined the national team five years ago, but the 24-year-old already has three AIBA World Championships and a WSB Season IV title to his name. With 20 WSB bouts and 19 victories to his name, Alvarez’s record in the competition speaks for itself, and the southpaw will be looking to add to that tally in the Season VI final.
If there is a glimmer of hope for Britain’s Luke McCormack it is that Alvarez’s sole WSB defeat came in the 2014 final against the Azeri Albert Selimov. The 20 year-old has just four bouts in the competition but remains unbeaten going in to the final, and has been sharp enough in the ring so far in 2016 to cause his decorated opponent real problems.
Heavyweight (91kg)
Erislandy Savon (CUB) vs Lawrence Okolie (GBR)
Erislandy Savon (CUB) vs Lawrence Okolie (GBR)
Another of the Cuban team’s big names, Erislandy Savon has been in excellent form on route to the Season VI final. Savon won gold and an Olympic quota place at the AIBA American Olympic Qualification Event in Buenos Aires, and after defeating Ukraine Otamans’ Dmytro Lisovyi in the Group Stages, the big heavyweight took his Semi-Final in style against Mirzobek Khasanov, taking his WSB record to 17-0.
Lawrence Okolie only took up boxing at the age of 17, but his ability on the international stage was underlined when he beat USA Knockouts’ Cam F Awesome on his WSB debut in Miami earlier this year. Okolie then secured his place at Rio 2016 with a win at the European Olympic Qualification Event in Turkey, leaving him to dedicate his training to the five-round format for the year’s big final.
The British Lionhearts were on dazzling form in London’s York Hall on Friday night, going one better than their 3-2 first leg win to record a famous 4-1 victory over the titleholders to reach their first ever WSB final. The 7-3 aggregate score means they will now meet the Cuba Domadores in the final in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, next weekend.
The Arlans’ former National Champion Azamat Issakulov started brightly against the Lionhearts’ Armenian draft pick Koryun Soghomonyan with some swift attacking flair, but Soghomonyan soon found his rhythm and accuracy in the second and third rounds to assume the advantage. Issakulov finished strongly, but the Armenian flyweight had already done enough to earn a unanimous decision and set the home side on their way.
Luke McCormack then met ASBC Asian Confederation silver medallist Zakir Safiullin in a patient, tactical lightweight bout. Safiullin was wary of his opponents body shots and defended well in the opening rounds, but McCormack kept his focus, taking a crucial lead that the Kazakh’s resilient spirit could not break through and earning the home side a healthy 5-2 lead.
The Arlans were far from finished, however, and Aslanbek Shymbergenov came out blazing against Josh Kelly as the visitors tried to force their way back in to the tie. The Kazah welterweight was imperious in the opening round, boxing from distance and closing up when required, controlling the match right to the final bell to make it 5-3 and give his side a glimmer of hope.
British Lionhearts roar into WSB Season VI final with 7-3 win over Astana Arlans Kazakhstan
The Lionhearts’ Bulgarian boxer Radoslav Pantaleev had other ideas, however, and followed his teammates success in keeping his distance from the experienced Nurdaulet Zharmanov. As Zharmanoc fell behind he was forced to chase the match, and as he tired, Pantaleev was able to capitalise on the small errors, earning a unanimous points win and confirming the Lionhearts’ place in the Season VI final.
With the win guaranteed, British powerhouse Frazer Clarke was able to enjoy a crowd-pleasing finale against fellow promising super heavyweight Kamshybek Kunkabayev. Both boxers have big-hitting reputations, and the Kazakh landed a solid left in the second round to floor Clarke, but the Lionhearts star responded well, taking control of a superb final contest to win by split decision, raising the roof in London’s York Hall.
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