Following the World Series of Boxing (WSB) International
Boxer Draft, held in London last week, the final boxer squads and
schedules have now been released ahead of the start of the WSB
Regular Season on November 19th 2010. Full details of
the schedule can now be viewed here.
In total 87 top boxers from around the world were chosen by the
franchises to make up their quota of international boxers to start
the first WSB season. Highlights from the draft included the
Ukrainian National Champion Sergiy Derevyanchenko, chosen by the
Milan franchise, the popular Irish Olympic silver medalist Kenny
Egan who heads to the Miami squad and German National Champion
Ronny Beblik, who joins WSB Boston.
The WSB Season will start on November 19th and
20th, with Moscow taking on Istanbul in the Russian
capital, and Milan at home against Paris. In Asia, Delhi will start
their campaign at home against Astana, and Beijing take on Baku in
China. In North America the first round gets underway with Miami at
home against Los Angeles, and a trip for Boston to Mexico City.
Following the regional conference competitions the semi-finals
will take place on April 1st 2011, followed by the WSB
Finals to be held in Macau on 6-7th May 2011. After the
team competitions, the top two individual boxers will compete to
become champions of their weight categories on May
27-28th 2011.
In the Europe conference, the Milan
franchise added to their strong national squad with the signing of
six boxers across four weight divisions, including the AIBA World
Championships silver medalist Benjey Zimmerman from the Netherlands
Antilles, and the promising Montenegrin heavyweight Bosko
Draskovic, a quarter-finalist at this year's European
Championships.
Further action from the draft included Istanbul signing 2008 Olympic
quarter finalist, Mohamad Arajaoui, who also reached the quarter
finals in last year's AIBA World Championships in Milan. Paris
signed Irish national champion John Nevin, who rocketed to success
in 2008 by qualifying for the Olympics at the tender age of 18.
Upon hearing of his signing by the Paris team, he commented; "Paris
is good because it is only a couple of hours away from my home. One
of my team mates will be going to Delhi and Kenny Egan will be
going to Miami. I'm pretty happy and ready to go."
In the Asia conference, Delhi
were the big movers, signing nine boxers across five different
weight divisions, adding to their promising national squad which
already includes some of India's finest competitors such as
Vijender Singh. Olympic bronze medalist Bahodirjon Sultonov,
Ukrainian Champion super-heavyweight Roman Kapitonenko and Beijing
Olympics semi-finalist Abdelhafid Benchabla will all joining up
with their new team mates in the Indian capital over the coming
months.
Elsewhere in the Asia conference, Astana Arlans added Colombian
fighter Jeysson Monroy Varela who recently won silver at the South
American Games and Hungarian heavyweight Istvan Bernath, who
commented; "I think the training will be very good in Astana and it
will be a good competition."
Baku boosted their already strong
squad with Tugstsogt Nyambayar (Mongolia) and Kobar Pkhakadze
(Georgia), silver and bronze medalists respectively from last
year's AIBA World Championships in Milan. But the headline signing
was Baku's drafting of Denis Poyatsyka, one of the brightest boxers
that Ukraine has ever produced - the four time national champion is
expected to be a strong challenger for the Olympic title in London
2012.
In the North American conference highlights
included Australian super-heavyweight National Champion Trent
Rawlins joining WSB Miami, along with Irish boxing
superstar Kenneth Egan, currently ranked fourth in the world by
AIBA. Miami completed their signings to a strong squad with the
signature of Beijing Olympian Jose Payares from Venezuela.
Three time German national champion, Ronny Beblik, was snapped
up by the WSB Boston team. Commenting on the
draft, he said; "I can easily adapt to a new location. I'm sure I
will be able to learn some new skills from my American team mates."
He will be joined in Boston by his compatriot, Erkan Teper, who
added; "I'm really excited about going to the US and it will be
great to have a German team mate'.
Los
Angeles signed six international boxers, including
highly fancied Brazilian, Everton Lopes, who at only 21 years of
age has already caused a stir in the 61kg weight category. The
final US conference franchise, Mexico City, also look a
strong outfit, with Julio Cesar Castillo (Ecuador) the standout
signing.
Finally, reserve boxers were drawn to represent franchises in
case of injuries to their first squad of boxers. The headline
signing was Hungarian light welterweight Gyula Káté to the Istanbul
franchise. Káté is currently second in the latest AIBA world
rankings following silver medals at the 2008 & 2009 EU
Championships. Elsewhere Irish middleweight Willie McLoughlin, also
a silver medalist at the 2009 EU Championships, will become a
reserve at WSB Paris, and the promising young German bantamweight
Marcel Schneider joins WSB Delhi.
Dr C. K. Wu, president of AIBA, the International Boxing
Association who initiated the World Series of Boxing welcomed the
finalization of the squads and is looking forward to the first
bouts: "Through WSB, boxers have a new choice. A competition that
will not only offer them long-term security, a guaranteed salary
and regular competitive boxing at the highest level, but that will
also allow them to retain their eligibility for the Olympic Games.
That competition is the World Series of Boxing. For the first time
ever, we will see a global, team boxing league in which the world's
best boxers compete against each other on a regular basis, year
after year."
The International Boxer Draft allowed the twelve WSB teams to
select from a pool of 175 boxers from 64 countries to complete
their squads of national boxers. Under WSB rules, each team must
comprise a minimum of three boxers who are not from the team
country. The luck of the draw determined who got first pick of the
talent as the boxers were drafted in turn in each of the WSB's five
weight classes (54kg, 61kg, 73kg, 85kg, 91+kg).
Copyright © World Series of Boxing 2012http://www.worldseriesboxing.com