World Series of Boxing: Lineups, Bouts and Quotes

Lausanne, Switzerland – The World Series of Boxing debuts this weekend with six matches being held across three continents. The Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder team has the honor of hosting the first-ever match this Friday evening against Paris United at the Palasharp venue on the outskirts of Milan. The Mexico City Guerreros will welcome Memphis Force hours later in the first match of the Americas conference. On Saturday, Moscow's Kremlin Bears host the Istanbulls at the Barvikha Luxury Village, and the first two matches in the Asia conference will take place, with the Astana Arlans taking on the Incheon Red Wings at home in Kazakstan, and the Beijing Dragons travelling to Azerbaijan to face the Baku Fires.

Milan has selected a strong opening line up, announcing a team that includes two Olympic medalists and a world champion – all of them Italian: Vincenzo Picardi (bantamweight), Domenico Valentino (lightweight) and Clemente Russo (heavyweight). Head coach Francesco Damiani has also added two of his international contingent into the mix: Sergiy Derevyanchenko of the Ukraine and Nikolajs Grisunins of Latvia, who will be competing at middleweight (73kg) and light heavyweight (85kg) respectively.

Moscow's Kremlin Bears take on the Istanbulls at the Barvikha Luxury Village on Saturday evening. The Moscow squad is the perfect WSB mix of experience and new talent, with heavyweight Arbi Madaev, silver medalist at the 2009 European Youth Championships, and light heavyweight Zhavlonbek Usmanov, bronze medalist at the 2006 World Junior Championships 2006, joined by three young Russian boxers looking to make their international debut with the World Series of Boxing.

In the first WSB match in the Americas conference, the Mexico City Guerreros will welcome the Memphis Force to the World Trade Center for their first home match on Friday evening. Head coach Francisco Bonilla has chosen a young squad for the first encounter, but one in which the boxers nevertheless hold three medals from this year's American Continental Championships between them. The second match in the Americas conference takes place next Tuesday November 23^rd, meaning that under WSB rules the Miami Gallos and Los Angeles Matadors have until Friday night to name their five-man selections for their encounter at the American Airlines Arena in Miami.

Ghana's Maxwell Amponsah is destined for fame in Kazakhstan with the Astana Arlans. After impressing the home crowd at the WSB Exhibition Match against the Istanbulls last month, the 24-year-old light heavyweight has been selected for the team's first home match in the Asia Conference on Saturday against the Incheon Red Wings. While Amponsah is the only African competing in this weekend's matches, Dongsik Seo is the only Korean in the Incheon side chosen for the opening match. Competing at bantamweight, he will be joined by an Uzbek, Bahodirjon Sultonov, at lightweight, two Moldovans, Victor Cotiujanschii and Mihael Muntean, at middleweight and heavyweight respectively, and Kiwi Reece Papuni, a quarter-finalist at this year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi, at light heavyweight, as the Incheon Red Wings pool their international talent.

The second match in the Asia conference sees the Beijing Dragons travel to Azerbaijan, where they will take on the Baku Fires at the Sarhadchi Olympic Center on Saturday evening. The home team's line-up includes the Ukraine's Denys Poyatsyka, bronze medalist at this year's European Championships, as its mandatory international boxer, as well as two newly naturalized Azeri citizens. Middleweight Soltan Migitinov and heavyweight Magomedrasul Medzhidov have both competed for Russia, Medzhiov taking the gold medal at the 11th Umakhanov Memorial tournament in Makhachkala, Russia, last year.

The Beijing team is putting a firm emphasis on young talent, with the oldest member of its squad only 23 years old. Unfortunately, due to visa issues the team has been unable to field an international boxer and will therefore forfeit one bout under WSB rule 2.1.5, which requires at least one international boxer to compete for a team at each match.

Here are the full line-ups for the five matches being held this weekend:

Europe Conference

Friday November 19th, 2100

Saturday November 20th, 1900

Asia Conference

Saturday November 20th, 2100

Saturday November 20th, 2000

Americas Conference

Friday November 19th, 2100

Selected quotes from WSB Boxers:

Rau'shee Warren, Los Angeles Matadors

Q : What are your thoughts on competing in the WSB?

A: "It was confusing at first to think that you could compete both as an amateur and as a professional, but once I found out more, I knew it was a good idea for me because I still wanted to fight for the gold (medal) because that's been my main attraction since I was young.  That's the only thing missing out of my trophy case.  When the WSB came about, it was like a dream come true and I knew it was something I wanted to do and still go to the Olympics and achieve my goal that I've been working on for eight years now. I'm just waiting for the first fight right now and I'm ready to get it on." 

Kenny Egan, Miami Gallos

Q: What are the pressures of competing in the WSB?

A: "Whenever I entered the ring for Ireland, there's always pressure on me because everyone wants to see me get beat.  I've been national champion the last 10 years in all of Ireland.  I just see this as a new challenge for me.  If I come to the World Series and train with different countries and if I improve by one percent, well then that's good enough for me. I've been around Europe and all around the world with amateur boxing for the last 10 years.  I know the ins and the outs of the game, but I just need something else in my arsenal and that means coming to Miami and training with a good team and learning something new and qualifying for the Olympics and winning that second medal."

Q: What are your reasons for coming to the WSB?

A: "Every boxer puts on a pair of gloves to be a champion and that's been my goal since I was eight years of age.  There are not many Olympians out there and not many Olympic medalists either. The Olympics are like the Holy Grail in any sport.  To reach that podium is a hard thing to do and personally I've reached that goal. The tournament means so much to me because my goal is to be in London 2012 and try and do it again.

Damien Sealy, Mexico City Guerreros

Q: What are your reasons for taking the WSB contract?

A: "I'm from the Caribbean and Barbados and there are not many people who promote boxing, and I don't have many fights.  This is going to put me on the world map and make me a better person and boxer.  It's not the money that made me do this because I've got two kids back home, but I'm still here because I like to box and I don't have much opportunities in the Caribbean to do it. It's a dream come true to be able to fight amateur and still go in professional because it's going to help us. It's going to give us a good start."

Q: What does being a WSB boxer mean to you?

A: "Getting a salary and what not is going to help them [his family], but if I wasn't getting a salary my sister and my mom and dad would be very grateful to see that I've made a big achievement to be recognized by the AIBA people. I wasn't always a disciplined kid and growing up I used to get in trouble, so to be doing this now is making my family very, very proud of me."  

Raynell Williams, Memphis Force

Q: What is it like to compete in a team environment?

A: "When you're at your normal gym, some people have their own coaches and you're segregated from your whole team, but down here [Memphis] we're a family.  Being with somebody that long training and being around them you develop a bond and it's better for the performance and you all feed off each other's energy. You push them and they push you to do the best that you can."