The side kicked off the new campaign with a Week 3 win in Poland, and on a close-run Saturday night of boxing in Vargas, it was the Venezuela Caciques who were the latest victims. A tight 3-2 defeat means the South Americans now have a win and two defeats from their opening three contests.
The hosts’ light flyweight Yonny Calderones made his debut in the opening bout, facing Bator Sagaluev, the Russian with a growing AOB reputation for delivering knockout blows. Sagaluev also showed his lightening speed from the opening moments, leaving Calderones chasing shadows and absorbing quick-fire blows until his defences finally capitulated in the fourth round and the visitors seized the early advantage.
Caciques’ main draft pick for the new season was the Dominican Republic’s Hector Luis Garcia, and he showed how valuable he will be to his new team with an impressive display against Russia’s European Games champion Bakhtovar Nazirov. Southpaw Garcia used the middle of the ring to control Nazirov’s movements in the first three minutes before raising the tempo with some well-judged uppercuts, controlling the final stages to tie the match.
Promising young Venezuelan Jesus Salvador Correa put up a brave fight against the visitors’ tough light welterweight Avak Uzliyan, but the 18 year old was unable to cause an upset and the Russians were ahead once again, before Caciques’ Endry Jose Saavedra took the tie down to the wire with a gritty, hard-fought victory over Russia’s National Middleweight Champion Andrey Kovalchuk.
That left another Venezuelan draft pick, Ireland’s Darren O’Neill, and Russian Team’s Sergey Kalchugin to decide the match. The heavyweights felt the pressure in a tight opening bout, but Kalchugin found his range and rhythm as the bout wore on, sapping the Irishman’s energies with a series of body blows from which he wasn’t able to recover. A unanimous judges’ decision awarded the Russian the bout and his side the match, launching them to the top of Group C ahead of a Week 7 trip to Buenos Aires where they will face Argentina Condors on 26 February.
Ruthless start puts tie beyond battling Rafako Hussars Poland as Argentina Condors win 3-2 in Buenos Aires
Three devastating performances from Argentina Condors’ opening trio of boxers on Saturday night put their WSB Group C clash with Rafako Hussars Poland beyond the visitors’ reach, despite a late rally from the powerful pair of Tomasz Jablonski and Igor Jakubowski. It has been a dream start to Season VI for the Condors, who will now face a stiff challenge in Week 7 when Russian Boxing Team arrive in the capital Buenos Aires for a top-of-the-table clash.
The Argentine side’s stylish light flyweight Junior Zarate has been a fixture of the national team since 2007, and he got the night off to the perfect start for the hosts, avenging a Season V defeat at the hands of Poland’s Dawid Jagodzinski with a unanimous points win over his rival.
Bantamweight Elias Gonzalez then controlled the second bout of the night against Rafako Hussars’ 19-year-old WSB debutant Adrian Kowal, and Polo Rodriguez’s put the match beyond doubt when he despatched Polish National Light Welterweight Champion Mateusz Kostecki in a thrilling encounter.
With the score at 3-0 the Polish side refused to lie down, and middleweight legend Tomasz Jablonski was the man to steady the ship with a comprehensive win over the hosts’ WSB debutant Joaquin Lingua. Already qualified for Rio 2016, Jablonski was in ruthless form, with the brave Lingua content to have five rounds of high-level international experience under his belt.
Another of Poland’s big-hitters then ensured the visitors went home with what could be a vital point in the context of the group qualification race. Igor Jakubowski had a clear physical advantage over Argentina’s heavyweight stand-in Dario Alcapan, and he made it count as he frustrated the Argentine, who was eventually disqualified in the fourth round of a brave battle.
