#WSBV Day 14 – Can Caciques Venezuela defeat Rafako Hussars Poland to keep quarter-final dreams alive?

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After a home victory last week in the World Series of Boxing (WSB) against USA Knockouts, Rafako Hussars Poland finish the Regular Season by hosting Caciques Venezuela.

The South American Franchise have impressed many boxing aficionados in their debut WSB season, and they have the potential to qualify for the quarter-finals if they win away in Poland.

Venezuela are fourth in the Group B table, a single point behind Italia Thunder who have the ominous task of meeting the undefeated Astana Arlans Kazakhstan on Saturday night.

Although the Polish team cannot qualify from the group, they too have aspirations to move up the table and could potentially finish the group stages in fifth place.

Will Poland’s excellent home win last week replicate itself again? Or will Venezuela defy the odds once more and secure their eighth victory of the campaign?

Hala Znicz, Pruszków is the venue for this Group B clash, where on Friday 24th April fans across the world can watch the action free, live and on demand from 20:30 (GMT +2) at AIBABoxingTV.com.

Polish Flyweight (52 kg) Grzegorz Kozlowski has lost both of his matches this season on points, so will want to finish with a victory when he meets Venezuela’s 2-2 Eduard Johan Bermúdez Salas.

Both of Kozlowski’s defeats came away from home, which means the Polish star can look forward to home support for the first time in WSB, while Salas has lost his two away matches, including a first round stoppage setback against Jeyvier Cintrón Ocasio.

Winning the first bout of a WSB fixture can often set the tempo for the rest of the evening, so a victory for either boxer will help out their team massively.

The Lightweights (60 kg) are in action next, where Mateusz Polski faces Luis Cabrera.

Polski endured a disappointing split decision loss in his WSB debut two weeks ago in Italy against Fabio Introvaia, while Cabrera began his career in the competition with success on the same weekend after beating Argentina’s Brian Ivan Nunez.

Cabrera is perhaps the faster boxer though he lost the last round against Nunez, whereas Polski dominated the second half of his contest with Introvaia.

Ireland’s Steven Donnelly has excelled for Rafako Hussars Poland this season, and the third ranked Welterweight (69 kg) looks for his sixth WSB win against 2013 AIBA World Championships bronze medalist Gabriel Maestre Perez.

A split decision success over Dario Morello two weeks ago was not enough for Donnelly to stay in the hunt for a Rio 2016 Olympic quota through WSB, while Perez has lost both of his away matches in the competition despite excellent home form.

Both boxers therefore will be eager to make a statement in their last match of the group stages, so will the attacking style of Donnelly or the slick reflexes of Perez prove to be the most important attribute in the fight?

Poland have only won a single match at Light heavyweight (81 kg) in Season V, which was a walkover win for 1-4 Mateusz Jerzy Tryc who fights Venezuela’s fifth ranked Albert Ramon Ramirez Duran.

Duran’s lone loss this season was to the second ranked Hrvoje Sep via split decision, and he has looked excellent in his victories.

Tryc also pushed Sep to a split decision in week two of the season, and if both boxers can replicate their best form, we could be in for an outstanding battle.

The night closes at Super heavyweight (91+ kg) and if Venezuela need a victory in the last match of the evening, they will be happy to rely on Edgar Ramon Munoz Mata, a fighter on a two bout winning streak.

Poland’s representative will be 0-2 Mantas Valavicius, who showed a great chin and immense toughness when he took both Arslanbek Makhmudov and Clayton Laurent Jr to points earlier in the season.