WSB Win tonight will see Barnes regain RIO pole
Uzbek light-fly Hasanboy Dustmatov moved three points clear of Paddy Barnes, but with one less fight left, in the race for the Rio Olympics at the top of the World Series of Boxing (WSB) Individual rankings after recording his sixth straight victory in Casablanca yesterday.
Dusmatov, who boxes with the Ukraine Otamans,beat Yassine Zaher of the Morocco Atlas Lions on a unanimous decision – 50-45 across the board – in North Africa.
One of Dusmatov’s wins this season was by walkover, which yields three points.
Barnes,who boxes with Italia Thunder,meets Leandro Zarate Junior of the Argentina Condors in Milan tonight.
If the two-time Olympic bronze medallist wins on a unanimous decision or a stoppage (five points are awarded for unanimous decisions, a KO or TKO), or on a split decision (four points), he will move back to the top of the table, two, or one point,clear of Dusmatov.
The top ranked light-fly at the end of the regular WSB next month will qualify for Rio 2016. After this weekend, Barnes and Dusmatov will have their last fights of the season on April 17th/18th.
Michael Conlan, who is in 4th spot in the bantamweight rankings,will also be in action for Italia Thunder versus Argentina tomorrow night.
The London 2012 bronze medallist meets Ignacio Perrin. Billy Walsh and John Conlan will be working the corners of the Irish duo tomorrow evening.
Conlan and the Irish squad will be keeping a close eye on the result of the Franciso Martinez (USA) versus Toitov Meirbolat (Kazakhstan) clash in Miami in the early hours of Saturday morning.
