Boxing: World Series of Boxing - British Lionhearts v German Eagles
Friday December 14
Earls Court, London
ESPN 11pm
No headgear, no vests, five-round bouts and scoring via the 10-point must system: the World Series of Boxing (WSB) is still classed as amateur boxing, but it bears more than a passing resemblance to its professional cousin.
It’s also a team event competed in by nation-based franchises, with the British Lionhearts debuting this year. Results have been good, with 4-1 wins against Italia Thunder and the USA Knockouts in the best-of-five bouts format – until a 5-0 defeat against Kazakhstan halted their progress last week.
This is the big one, however. The German Eagles swoop into London, and the British have selected some of the squad’s big guns to shoot them down. Olympic silver-medallist Fred Evans (pictured, on the left) competes at middleweight against fellow Olympian Vasilii Belous, while another Team GB member, Andrew Selby, is in a tough bantamweight contest against the wily Redouane Asloum.
The pick of the bouts could be at light-heavyweight, where gifted Irish teenager Joe Ward takes on Kevin Kunzel: unbeaten in two and a half seasons of WSB action. With two other bouts at lightweight and heavyweight (featuring Sam Maxwell and Joe Joyce for Britain), it’s an enticing event.
