Mumbai Fighters blank Matadors 5-0 for first WSB win

Mumbai Fighters inflicted a 5-0 defeat on LA Matadors for their first win in the World Series of Boxing, thereby improving their chances of making it to the quarter-finals, here on Friday.

The city-based outfit, India's only franchisee in the WSB, had started the Group A fight with a 2-0 lead in the best of five clash even before the bouts began.

The bantam-weight category bout between Bhiwani lad Jitendra Kumar and Fernando Martinez and the light heavyweight clash between the home team's Marko Cilic and Levan Guledani were awarded to the home team as a walkover.

Martinez, who suffered an injury, had been replaced by the visitors with Joet Gonzalez but since he was not officially registered, the bout was awarded to the Mumbai outfit.

Gonzalez, however, did take to the ring against Jitendra in an exhibition match which the Bhiwani-boxer won 50-45 49-46 50-49, much to the delight of the crowd that had gathered at the T-Box mobile arena at the Inorbit Mall in suburban Malad here.

The light heavyweight clash, too, was a walkover for the Mumbai-side as Guledani had failed to procure a visa and could not turn up.

Lightweight pugilist Sidhharth Varma sealed the deal for the Fighters as he overcame the challenge of Eric Fowler, who had a 4-2 WSB record prior to this match, with the three judges giving a unanimous decision in Varma's favour - 48-47, 48-47, 48-47.

Egged on by the crowd, Varma was all charged up and aggressive. His punches were impressive.

A ruffled up Fowler tried to fight back but in the process opened up more gaps for Varma to land his punches.

Irishman Paul Gallagher, gold medallist in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, provided the icing while American Paul Koon the cake, winning their respective middleweight and heavyweight clashes to complete a clean sweep for the Fighters.

In a closely fought middleweight bout against Russel Lamour, in which the judges gave a split decision, Gallagher scored a 48-47, 48-47, 47-48 win.

Koon bulldozed Javier Torres despite losing his balance once to win a unanimous verdict - 49-46, 49-46, 49-46.

Following this win, the Mumbai team has seven points from four matches. A win in their next match against Astana Arlans at the same venue next Friday, will help the Mumbai team's knockout bid further.

The team had lost its first two fights against Milano Thunders (2-3) and Dynamo Moscow (0-5) before getting a walkover against Bangkok Elephants.