World Series of Boxing Americas Set to Resume Season with Exciting Week 5 Matchups to Begin 2011

(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) Fresh off an 18-day layoff, the inaugural season of the World Series of Boxing (WSB) resumes again Wednesday night in Miami with a kickoff to 2011 featuring the Memphis Force and Miami Gallos. The week five matchups also feature an exciting contest between the Americas top two teams with the Los Angeles Matadors visiting the Mexico City Guerreros on Friday, January 7.

Through four weeks, the LA Matadors lead the conference standings with a 3-1 team record, with 10 points overall after taking 15 of their first 20 bouts overall. The Guerreros and Gallos have found great success thus far at home but have struggled in their away contests as both sit at 2-2. The Guerreros have the advantage with two 5-0 wins at home. The Memphis Force are trailing the rest of the teams with a 1-3 record.

A pair of Matador lightweights headline the individual standings for WSB Americas boxers, standing atop the WSB individual rankings with identical 2-0 records one-third of the way through the season. The individual rankings will ultimately determine the top two boxers in each weight category, who will qualify for the Individual Championships in May 2011, where they will fight for qualification to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Representing the Los Angeles Matadors, Eric Fowler (Houston, Texas) and Everton Lopes (Salvador de Bahia, Brazil) are the class of the lightweight division through four weeks of WSB action. Fowler has TKO’ed both his opponents thus far while Lopes picked up a big win December 16 with a TKO of 2008 Olympian Raynell Williams (Cleveland, Ohio) of the Memphis Force.

Lopes will be in action Friday trying to up his record to 3-0 on the season. To date, the 2008 Brazilian Olympian hasn’t allowed an opponent to complete an entire fight with two TKOs thus far. Lopes is one of two Brazilians dominating WSB action thus far on the young season with Yamaguchi Florentino (Espirtú Santo, Brazil) of the Mexico City Guerreros sitting at 2-0 with a chance against the Matadors’ Carlos Gongora later this week to make it three straight wins to open his WSB career. The Brazilians are faring well thus far in WSB action having not lost a bout in seven WSB contests thus far (including Pedro Lima’s two wins for the Beijing Dragons).

Brazilian bantamweight Paulo Carvalho (Gandu Bahia, Brazil) of the Miami Gallos was one of the first two boxers to sign a participation agreement with the World Series of Boxing and will finally get his first taste of action tonight against Ernesto Garza (Saginaw, Mich.). The 2008 Olympian signed back on September 5, 2010.

Seven Matador boxers in all find themselves among the top-10 individual rankings while 15 WSB Americas fighters are represented in the latest rankings. The Mexico City Guerreros have four top-10 boxers, while the Miami Gallos have three and the Memphis Force with one.

For a complete listing of the WSB individual rankings, click here.

Tonight from AmericanAirlines Arena, the Miami Gallos will be looking to erase a stinging 4-1 defeat the Memphis Force provided in their first meeting of the season back on November 26 at the DeSoto Civic Center. Since that time the Force have gone winless and stand at the bottom of the WSB Americas rankings. The Gallos have been perfect at home thus far winning both bouts and will look to keep that winning streak in tact.

One of the featured bouts of the evening will be at the light heavyweight class as Robert Brant (St. Paul, Minn.) and Sijoula Shabazz (Las Cruces, N.M.) square off. Brant was the first U.S. boxer to sign a participation agreement with the World Series of Boxing. He opened the gates for other highly qualified U.S. amateur boxers to join the WSB ranks. The two foes meet for the first time since their 2009 clash at then USA Boxing National Championships in which Brant defeated Shabazz, 11-9, to secure a national title at light heavyweight.
Miami Gallos light heavyweight Sijoula Shabazz (right)
Miami Gallos light heavyweight Sijoula Shabazz (right) in action against Francisco Ortega of the MC Guerreros. Shabazz will be looking to avenge an 11-9 defeat to Robert Brant in the finals of the 2009 USA Boxing National Championships. MANDATORY PHOTO CREDIT: Doug Murray //Hoganphotos

Today will also mark the debut of Memphis Force heavyweight Danny Calhoun (Chicago, Ill.). Calhoun was a former walk-on tight end for the University of Cincinnati and currently owns and operates his own business, TKO Fitness, out of Cincinnati. Calhoun will be facing the Gallos’ Donovan Dennis (Davenport, Iowa).

The complete Memphis Force/Miami Gallos fight card is below:

Memphis Force

54 kg Ernesto Garza (Saginaw, Mich.)

61 kg Elian Dimitrov (Burgas, Bulgaria)

73 kg Terrell Gausha (Cleveland, Ohio)

85 kg Robert Brant (St. Paul, Minn.)

91+kg Danny Calhoun (Chicago, Ill.)

Miami Gallos

54 kg Paulo Carvalho (Gandu Bahia, Brazil)

61 kg Leonid Malkov (Kiev, Ukraine)

73 kg William Williams (Conyers, Ga.)

85 kg Sijuola Shabazz (Las Cruces, N.M.)

91+ kg Donovan Dennis (Davenport, Iowa)

A more in-depth preview on the important matchup featuring the league’s top two teams, the LA Matadors and Mexico City Guerreros, will be released on Friday morning prior to that day’s fight.

About World Series of Boxing Americas

The World Series of Boxing is a global sports league created by the International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) to reunite the broader boxing world and its grassroots foundation, provide a bridge between Olympic boxing and professional boxing, and grow the sport’s fan base in the United States and throughout the world.

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