(MEXICO CITY) The Mexico City Guerreros found comfort at home once again Friday to break a two-match skid and earn a decisive 4-1 victory Friday over the visiting Miami Gallos to close out action in Week 4 of the World Series of Boxing (WSB) Americas. Action at the Centro Banamex resembled that of the Guerreros’ opening night when they trounced the Memphis Force, 5-0, to begin the season. But since then, the Guerreros had not fared so well on the road dropping contests to the Los Angeles Matadors, 5-0, and to the Miami Gallos last week, 3-2..
With the Guerreros returning two winning fighters to center stage for the first time since their season debut along with a 2008 Olympian competing for the first time for Mexico City, the Guerreros would have the upper hand on paper going in and would back that up with their action in the ring throughout the night as well.
The Guerreros took bout No. 1 with Elias Emigdio (Zitlala, Mexico) beating Luis Miguel Diaz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) in the bantamweight division, 49-46, 49-46, 48-47. Emigdio avenged an earlier season loss to two-time Olympian Rau’shee Warren (Cincinnati, Ohio) by defeating Diaz, now 0-2 on the season.
In the lightweight class, Leonid Malkov (Kiev, Ukraine) lost a close bout to 2008 Olympian Oscar Valdez (Nogales, Mexico), 48-47, 48-46, 48-47 to give the Guerreros a 2-0 advantage. Both fighters were making their season debuts in the WSB.
In bout No. 3, middleweight Anthony Campbell (Covington, Tenn.) fell short of the win after a split decision loss to Yamaguchi Florentino (Espirtu Santo, Brazil), 49-46, 46-49, 48-47, which secured the team win for the Guerreros. Florentino moved to 2-0 on the season with him and his younger brother Esquiva having their way thus far with the middleweight ranks within WSB Americas having won all three bouts between them thus far.
Paul Koon (Philadelphia, Pa.) got the walkover victory for the Gallos in the light heavyweight division.
To close out the evening, heavyweight Juan Hiracheta (Monterrey, Mexico) moved to 2-0 on the year with a split decision victory over Craig Lewis (Detroit, Mich.), 48-47, 46-49, 48-47.
With the win, the Guerreros (2-2) pick up three points in the conference standings for a total of seven and move three points behind the front-running Los Angeles Matadors (3-1) who have 10. The Gallos (2-2) gain no points in the overall standings and sit in third place overall with six points. The Memphis Force (1-3) are in last place with a total of three points.
The Guerreros continue to feast off a decisive home-field advantage given they compete at 7,300 feet in elevation and have yet to drop a decision in nine contested bouts at home. Meanwhile, the Gallos are 0-2 away from AmericanAirlines Arena and add to the 1-7 record for visiting teams thus far in WSB Americas with only the Matadors earning a win away from home, a 4-1 win over Memphis Thursday night.
Now a third of the way through a 12-week season, all teams will take an 18-day break during the holidays, with week five action not set to reconvene until January 5 with the Memphis Force travelling to Miami to take on the Gallos. That match will be followed with the Mexico City Guerreros hosting the Matadors on January 7.
Despite no action taking place in the ring, boxing fans can catch plenty of WSB action on VERSUS, the U.S. broadcast provider of the WSB, with the network set to broadcast four matches from earlier this season. The upcoming broadcast schedule is as follows:
· Saturday, December 18 – 2 p.m. ET (Mexico City vs. Miami Gallos from Dec. 9)
· Tuesday, December 21 – 12 a.m. ET (Memphis vs. Los Angeles from Dec. 12)
· Saturday, December 25 – 2 p.m. ET (Los Angeles vs. Memphis from Dec. 16)
· Tuesday, December 28 – 12 a.m. ET (Miami vs. Mexico City from Dec. 17)