#WSBV Day 12 – Who will return to victory when Ukraine Otamans and Algeria Desert Hawks meet?
09 April 2015
#WSBV Ukr vs Mex
Ukraine Otamans host Algeria Desert Hawks in a must win World Series of Boxing (WSB) match for both Franchises.
The European team have slipped to fourth in the Group A table, while Algeria have yet to win away from home this season.
Both teams are capable of brilliance, which makes this clash a very intriguing proposition.
Ukraine lost to African opposition in their last match as they were defeated by Morocco Atlas Lions, while this is Algeria’s second match in a week after they faced Russia on Tuesday night.
Additionally, this is the penultimate match in the Regular Season for the weight classes in action, so those in the hunt for Rio 2016 Olympic Games qualification through WSB need to maintain their momentum.
Sports Palace, Kiev is the venue for this Group A clash, where on Friday 10th April fans across the world can watch the action free, live and on demand from 21:30 (GMT +3) at AIBABoxingTV.com.
Algerian Lightweight (60 kg) Reda Benbaziz is on a four fight winning streak in WSB, and has never been beaten in the ring this season as his lone loss was a walkover defeat in week two of the competition.
Benbaziz is third in the Lightweight rankings, four points behind second placed Lazaro Alvarez and seven points behind top ranked Albert Selimov.
Only two Lightweights will reach Rio 2016 via WSB, so Benbaziz needs a victory against Ukrainian debutant Viktor Slavinskyi to keep his Olympic dreams alive.
The evening begins at Flyweight (52 kg) where Kyrgyzstan’s 2-2 Azat Usenaliev meets Algeria’s 0-3 Abdelhakim El Barka.
Usenaliev has won both of his home matches this season, while El Barka will be hoping to become the first Desert Hawk Flyweight to win in Season V.
1-2 Ukrainian Welterweight (69 kg) Oleg Zubenko then faces Algeria’s 2014 National Champion Zohir Kedache who makes his first appearance of the campaign for his Franchise.
Oleksandr Khyzhniak has achieved success in all three of his home matches this season for the Otamans, and the fourth ranked Light heavyweight (81 kg) competes against 1-3 Nabil Kassel in Kiev.
Although fourth in the Light heavyweight standings, Khyzhniak is nine points behind the top two fighters in the weight class, which means that even a win this weekend could see him lose his hopes of Olympic qualification through WSB.
The beauty of WSB however is that every match is important for the team, and his match against Kassel could be crucial on the night in terms of which Franchise ultimately proves victorious.
A Super heavyweight (91+ kg) fight closes proceedings in Ukraine as 1-1 Ihor Shevadzutskyi battles Algeria’s 0-2 Hamza Beguerni.
