Cuba Defeats Russia to Make the World Series of Boxing Finals

With a convincing 8-2 bout win over Russia

HAVANA TIMES — The Cuba Domadores (Tamers) thrilled island boxing fans on Friday night with a sweep of five matches against their Russian World Series of Boxing (WSB) rivals at the Havana Ciudad Deportiva Arena.

The Cubans had won the first half of the competition by a closer 3-2 margin in bouts last week in Russia.

In their first incursion into semi-pro boxing, and without protective head gear, the Cubans must now wait to see who they will face in the finals, the Astana Arlans of Kazakhstan or the Azerbaijan Baku Fires.

According to the WSB website the bout of the night pitted two time AIBA World Champ Lazaro Alvarez vs Russia’s Konstantin Bogomazov.

The Cuban floored his rival near the end of the first round but the Russian recovered and remained competitive throughout the fight, actually winning the last round, noted the WSB reporter.

The WSB rated Julio Cesar La Cruz a two time AIBA Light Heavyweight champ as the boxer of the match on Friday dominating every minute of every round against his rival Aleksander Khotyantsev.

In the welterweight contest between two London medalists Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo and Adrei Zamkovoi, the Cuban won by a unanimous decision.

The final bout of the evening was between heavyweights Jose Angel Larduet and Russia’s Magomed Omarov. The Russian was making his first appearance in WSB boxing against Larduet with two previous bouts under his belt. The hard fought match ended up with the Cuban winning a split decision to cap a 5-0 whitewash for the islanders.