Having re-branded as the Patriot Boxing Team, Russia’s WSB franchise will get its Season VII campaign underway in Moscow on Saturday night with a hotly anticipated match against Astana Arlans Kazakhstan.
The two Group C teams have been a central part of WSB since Season I and regular features of the Play-Off stages, with the Arlans twice lifting the trophy, in Seasons III and V. Both endured difficult campaigns last year, however, and will have to negotiate a tough group if they are to make it through to the Finals this time around.
Getting the Patriots up and running at Light Flyweight (49kg) on Saturday will be 25-year-old European Games gold medallist Bator Sagaluev. His famous right hook has secured a host of TKO wins in the past, but Sagaluev will begin Season VII against 29-year-old ASBC Champion Temirtas Zhussupov, an experienced WSB veteran with a strong 7-3 record and a useful height advantage.
The hosts’ Artem Khotenov then makes his WSB debut at Bantamweight (56kg) against Arlans’ London 2012 Olympian and 2014 Asian Games winner Ilyas Suleimenov, before Radmir Abdurakhmanov and Dilmurat Mizhitov go toe-to-toe at Light Welterweight (64kg) in the battle of the WSB newcomers.
One of the highlights of the evening is set to be the Middleweight (75kg) encounter between another new face for the Patriot Boxing Team, World Military Games winner Radzhab Radzhabov, and 19-year-old rising Kazakh star Abilkhan Amankul, who won both his Season VI contests after a superb Youth career. The Patriots’ Ilia Kvasnikov won his only contest of Season VI against Uzbek Tigers’ Rustam Tulaganov and will be hoping for a victorious finale to Week One against Anton Pinchuk at Heavyweight (91kg).
