We’ve now reached the quarter-final stages of the World Series of Boxing and it was 2 familiar foes who met at the Arena Sports and Entertainment Complex in Kemerovo as the Patriot Boxing Team took on the Astana Arlans.
First in the ring at light flyweight (49kg) Bator Sagaluev was up against Temirtas Zhussupov. Sagaluev used his quick feet to dart in and out to win the opening round. Zhussupov had more success in round 2 by targeting the body and the Kazak established range and landed with straight shots in round 3. Zhussupov continued to find a home for his long straight punches in round 4 before things became rather untidy in round 5. We went to the cards and it was the Russian who won a unanimous decision to give his team the perfect start. It was then on to the Bantamweights (56kg) as debutant Maksim Chernyshev faced the highly experienced Ilyas Suleimenov. Chernyshev began brightly before Suleimenov responded in an entertaining opening stanza. Chernyshev again came out with positive intent but Suleimenov picked off his man with good right hands and body shots. The Russian pushed his opponent back and managed to sustain his attacks in round 3 before a closely fought round 4 left the contest in the balance. With it all to play for both men gave it all they had but it was the cleaner work of Suleimenov that won him the unanimous decision to level things up. At light welterweight (64kg) Aleksei Mazur was up against Dilmurat Mizhitov. The pair exchanged shots in the opening round with Mazur fighting well off the back foot. Mizhitov got through with some good body shots in round 2 but Mazur remained composed and boxed and moved really effectively. Mizhitov’s come forward style began to pay dividends in round 3 with Mazur being forced to fight at close quarters. The Kazak continued to pile on the pressure and hammer away at the body in round 4 and it was definitely now Mizhitov’s kind of fight. The last round was rather scrappy with not much of note landed but it was Mizhitov who claimed the split decision to put the Arlans 2-1 up. The penultimate bout was at Middleweight (75kg) with Andrey Kovalchuk taking on Saparbay Aidarov. There was very little to separate them in a quiet opening stanza and an accidental clash of heads caused a cut on the right eye of Aidarov. Neither man landed much of consequence in round 2 but the Kazak was just about getting the better of things. Aidarov demonstrated some nice movement to pinch round 3 but Kovalchuk responded to take the 4th and make things interesting going in to the last round. There was plenty of effort but until late on accuracy was lacking from both but Aidarov won the unanimous point’s victory to hand the Astana Arlans the first leg win. The final fight saw Ilia Kvasmikov face Anton Pinchuk at heavyweight (91kg). Kvasnikov was quick out the blocks early on and a big left hand had Pinchuk in all sorts of trouble and an 8 count was administered by the referee. With his nose bleeding profusely Pinchuk was unable to continue and Kvasnikov recorded the TKO win to give the Russian’s some hope going in to the second leg. In a salivating quarter-final powerhouses Cuban Domadores and Uzbek Tigers met in the first leg at the Anphitheater in Mojiza, Samarkand. Both sides fielded star-studded line-ups making their intentions to become WSB champions abundantly clear. The action kicked off at light flyweight (49kg) with Olympic champion Hasanboy Dusmatov up against current world champion Johanys Argilagos. Dusmatov, who was brimming with confidence after winning the Asian championships continued that supreme form by putting on a tremendous boxing display throughout against the Cuban. The Uzbek was on the front foot using his lightning fast hands to score with combinations against Argilagos who was always a step behind. At the final bell it was Dusmatov who won the unanimous decision to give his team the ideal start. In the battle of the Bantamweights (56kg) recently crowned Asian champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev tussled with Javier Ibanez. Neither man wanted to give an inch in a hotly contested opening round and the toe to toe action carried on in round 2 with Ibanez just shading proceedings although Akhmadaliev was having more than his fair share of success. After a frantic first 6 minutes the pace unsurprisingly slowed with both looking to box more and pick their punches more wisely. The tempo increased in round 4 as furious exchanges lead to a pulsating 3 minutes of action. After a wonderful final round where both landed with hard combinations it was Akhmadaliev who won the split decision in what was a superb advert for WSB boxing between 2 bonified high quality fighters. With the Tigers now 2 nil up light welterweight (64kg) Ikboljon Kholdarov had the chance to put the first leg beyond doubt against Andy Cruz. Both were looking to counted which resulted in a tactical opening stanza. Kholdarov had some joy in round 2 but Cruz was comfortable with the pace and style of the contest. The Cuban won round 3 and even worked well inside which isn’t his natural game. The action opened up slightly in the last 2 rounds but there was no doubt of the winner with Cruz claiming the unanimous decision and putting the Domadores right back in to the contest. In what looked a potentially explosive encounter at Middleweight (75kg) Israil Madrimov squared off against Arlen Lopez. Lopez took his time in the opening round with Madrimov moving forward and pressing the action. The Uzbek really grew in confidence in round 2 and beat the Cuban to the punch and simply outworked him. Madrimov was in full control over the next 2 rounds and although he did tire in the final stages he’d done more than enough to pull off a fantastic victory over the reigning Olympic gold Medallist whose display was lacklustre to say the least. Finally in the Heavyweight (91kg) division Sanjar Tursunov went up against Erislandy Savon. Savon maintained distance to win the opening round and the Cuban again controlled proceedings with the jab in round 2 as Tursunov was unable to get inside. The home man had some occasional moments but wasn’t able to sustain the momentum for any prolonged period. Tursunov caught Savon with a decent shot but the Cuban, somewhat annoyed at having taken a solid punch reasserted his dominance for the rest of the 4th. Savon avoided any dramas in the last round and prevailed via unanimous decision to leave the tie beautifully poised with the Tigers 3-2 up ahead of the second leg.
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