Although war has not yet been declared between Russia and the Ukraine, at the weekend the two went toe to toe, with no holds barred. Russia emerged the victors.
Russia faced off against the Ukraine in the first leg of the quarter finals of the World Series of Boxing and the potential powder keg fortunately did not explode anywhere else but inside the ring.
However the Russian Boxing Team inflicted a huge blow on the Ukraine Otamans’ hopes of progressing to a second successive semi-final in the World Series of Boxing with a 4-1 victory.
The Ukrainians, who finished as runners-up last season, needed to secure just one more win, and then they would have entered this Friday’s second leg in a very solid position. Russia however seized on the home advantage to dominate the evening’s affairs in Moscow. This result means that the strong Russian side needs just two wins from the remaining five bouts, to secure their passage to the next stage of the competition.
The second leg of this quarter-final match will take place in Donetsk, Ukraine on April 4. The Otamans will need to win at least four of the bouts to force the match into a tiebreaker, which incidentally is exactly how they lost last year’s Finals.
According to the controversial President of AIBA DR CK Wu “On April 6, we will be celebrating the very first International Day of Sport for Development and Peace. I strongly believe that sport can drive peace around the world. And I know that this WSB quarter-final will be the perfect symbol of that.”
The first leg certainly proved that was the case, let us hope the second does too.
