Astana Arlans beat Poland Hussars once again

In the last bout before the WSB 4th season playoffs, the Astana Arlans proved that they own the ring in the fight against the Poland Hussars winning 4:1, Tengrinews reports. The flyweight fight (-52 kg) opened the night at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty. Neither the Kazakh boxer Iliyas Suleimenov, 23 nor his opponent Grzegorz Kozlowski, 20 had had a single win in WSB before. Both boxers were motivated to finally add a victory to their records. Suleimenov showcased a great footwork and outclassed his opponent in all 5 rounds. The young Wolf had some great one-two combinations. Kozlowski displayed a great stamina and persistence, but it was not enough to beat the Kazakh boxer in his home ring. The fight ended with 50:44, 50:45, 50:43 in Suleimenov’s favor. The young Arlan opened the night with the first win 1:0. A debutant of the Alpha Wolves Gani Zhailauov fought against an experienced orthodox Pole boxer Dawid Michelus (3WP) in the lightweight category (-60 kg). With the results of the first two rounds tied, it was difficult to guess who is taking the win. Zhailauov took over in the third round and continued with precise attacks throughout the second half of the bout. The Alpha Wolf won the Pole Hussar with 49:46, 50:45, 48:47. The score got to 2:0 in favor of the Wolves. The third fight of the night was highly anticipated by many, as the 2013 AIBA World Champion Daniyar Yeleussinov debuted in WSB in the welterweight category (-69 kg) against Zhora Simonyan, an Armenian mercenary. But since the World Championship is different from WSB the fight certainly put the Kazakh boxer on a test for stamina and strength. Yeleussinov showcased an admirable precision and speed against his younger opponent. He outclasses Simonyan in the first round. The young Arlan kept Simonyan at a distance at jabbed at him with precision. Yeleussinov won with 50:43, 50:44, 50:42. The Astana Wolves won the night with 3-0. “Certainly, there is a difference between amateur boxing (and WSB). You fight two rounds more and it takes time to get use to it. But we were training and working hard,” Yeleussinov said after the fight. He noted that his opponent was not an easy one. “I would not say my opponent was weak, he had strong punches and was very persistent and stubborn,” the boxer added. Despite the cheers and a relief of the fans due to the early win of the Kazakh team, there were two more fights that night. One more debutant took to the ring in the light heavyweight category (-81 kg). Yeleussinov’s counterpart from the National Team, Adilbek Niyazymbetov faced the Hussars’ Kasjusz Gracjan Zycinski. Niyazymbetov, a silver Olympic medalist and silver 2013 AIBA World Champion proved to be a strong opponent. In the first round, Zycinski got an 8-count. The Pole boxer was strong enough to withstand full 5 rounds against the iron fisted Kazakh however. In the end, Niyazymbetov won on points with 50:40, 50:41, 50:43. The Astana Arlans added another victory to their record. The last fight was in the super heavyweight category (-91 kg). A debutant Armen Simoyan, 21 of the Astana Wolves fought against experienced Sergiy Werwejko, 25 of the Poland Hussars. The last fight became a fight between two Ukrainian mercenary titans. For Werwejko it was his third fight of this season. Simonyan was TKOed in the third round. “The last fight disappointed me (…). We may be having problems with our heavyweights. Armen is young and even though he did not have any problems during the training and was working real hard, in the end he could not handle his emotions. I think, he could not cope with himself psychologically,” the Head Coach of the Wolves Sergey Korchinsky commented after the fight. Korchinsky added that the National Team debutants had great fights and it gave them an important experience to continue in the playoffs. The quarterfinals will start on March 28 for the Astana Wolves. The Dolce&Gabanna Italian Thunders, the Ukrain Ottomans, the Team Germany and the US Knockouts from the Group A made it into the quarterfinals of the 4th season. In the group B, the teams are: the Cuba Domadores, the Astana Arlans, the Baku Fires and the Russian Boxing Team. By Gyuzel Kamalova