#WSBV Day 11 – Can Morocco Atlas Lions maintain their momentum against Ukraine Otamans?
26 March 2015
Rabii
Morocco Atlas Lions host Ukraine Otamans in week 11 of the World Series of Boxing (WSB).
The Moroccan team won their last match away in London against British Lionhearts, while Ukraine defeated China at home last week.
This is also the penultimate match for these weight classes in the Regular Season, so there is significance for boxers competing who are aiming for Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification via WSB.
Hyatt Regency, Casablanca is the venue for this Group A clash, where on Friday 27th March fans across the world can watch the action free, live and on demand from 22:00 GMT at AIBABoxingTV.com.
Uzbekistan’s 5-0 Hasanboy Dusmatov has been one of Ukraine Otamans’ best boxers this season, and is ranked number two at Light flyweight (49 kg) two points behind Ireland’s Patrick Barnes.
Only one Light flyweight will qualify for Rio via WSB, so a win for Dusmatov against Moroccan debutant Yassine Zaher is imperative for the Uzbek star to keep Barnes in his sights heading into the last part of the Regular Season.
Another undefeated Uzbek fighter is Middleweight (75 kg) Hurshidbek Normatov who is 4-0 for Ukraine this season.
Normatov is ranked third at the weight class, a solitary point behind Poland’s number one Tomasz Jablonski, and level with Cuba’s Arlen Lopez.
Two Middleweight fighters will qualify for Rio through WSB, so Normatov will need an impressive victory over 1-2 Atlas Lion Said Harnouf who won his last home match.
1-2 Bantamweight (56 kg) Mohamed Hamout has not competed for over a month, but returns to action when he faces Ukraine’s 3-1 Mykola Butsenko who could enter the Bantamweight rankings if he succeeds in Casablanca.
Ukraine have not won a match at Light welterweight (64 kg) this season in five attempts, but neither has Morocco’s 0-5 Hamza El Barbari, which makes his clash with 0-1 Dmytro Grynchenko a very interesting one.
The last match of the evening is a Heavyweight (91 kg) shootout between Amine Azzouzi who competes for the first time since week one against Ukrainian debutant Arsenity Azizov.
