#WSBV Day 11 – Olympic dreams on the line as Rafako Hussars Poland meet Azerbaijan Baku Fires
27 March 2015
#WSBV
Rafako Hussars Poland host Azerbaijan Baku Fires this week in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) with much to fight for.
The Azeri Franchise have won four of their last five matches, and are looking to maintain second place in the Group B table.
Meanwhile, fighters on both teams have just two more matches to compete in the Regular Season, and many of the boxers on show in this match have a burning ambition to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games through WSB.
Hala Widowiskowo-Sportowa AWFiS, Gdansk is the venue for this Group B clash, where on Saturday 28th March fans across the world can watch the action free, live and on demand from 20:30 (GMT +1) at AIBABoxingTV.com.
Azerbaijan’s 4-0 Magomed Gurbanov tops the Bantamweight (56 kg) rankings by a single point over America’s Francisco Martinez, but crucially leads third placed Michael Conlan by four points.
If Gurbanov wins his penultimate Regular Season match over Poland’s Sylwester Kozlowski he will take a giant step towards qualifying for Rio 2016.
The Light welterweight (64 kg) weight class is one of the most intense divisions in WSB this season, and Azerbaijan’s 4-1 Gaybatulla Gadzhialiyev is second in the rankings, level on points with top placed Italian Vincenzo Mangiacapre.
Gadzhialiyev’s other rivals including Raúl Curiel García and Yasnier Toledo are just a point behind, so the WSB veteran needs a convincing victory against 1-3 Damian Tadeusz Kiwior to give himself the best chances of staying in the top two heading into the final match of the group stages.
Poland’s Tomasz Jablonski lost his first bout of the campaign two weeks ago to Meiirim Nursultanov, but still stands at the top of the Middleweight (75 kg) rankings with his destiny firmly in his own hands.
Only two points separates the top four fights in the division however, so anything other than victory over Jaba Khositashvili would be a disaster for the talented 4-1 fighter.
A superb Heavyweight (91 kg) shootout will close the night in Poland, as Rain Karlson meets fourth placed Abdulkadir Abdullayev.
Only one Heavyweight will qualify for Rio 2016 through WSB, so a loss for either man in this fixture will definitely spell the end of their hopes.
The action begins in Gdansk with a Light flyweight (49 kg) contest between Poland’s 1-4 Dawid Sebastian Jagodzinski and 0-1 Rasul Saliyev.
