(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) For both the Miami Gallos and Memphis Force, the World Series of Boxing’s (WSB) inaugural season has been a bitter disappointment as each team has struggled to be as competitive as they had envisioned when the season got underway. But starting tonight in downtown Memphis, each franchise will look to squash those memories and build towards the future as week 11 gets underway.
After five matches at the DeSoto Civic Center in nearby Southhaven, Miss., the Memphis Force fight in a new venue Thursday night, as they will compete in the New Daisy Theatre on the world-famous Beale Street beginning at 8 pm CT. The Force are hopeful that moving their competition to the heart of Memphis will allow them to engage a whole new fan base and add a marquee dimension to the Beale Street lineup.
This is a Week 11 contest that has been scheduled early to accommodate the schedule changes that had to be made after the postponement of the week eight Memphis/Miami match that was originally scheduled to take place February 5 in Miami. That match will now be made up on Sunday, March 13 at the Solare Coliseum in Miami.
That postponement will test the sheer will of each of these teams and gauge how much each squad truly has left in what can only be described as an unsatisfying first season for each franchise. It will also bring into play the depth of each team as they face the unenviable task of boxing three times in a span of 14 days.
Each team is 1-1 against one another on the year with each squad having defended their home ring with 4-1 victories. The Memphis Force, just 2-7 overall, got embarrassed Monday evening in Los Angeles against the Matadors, losing all five bouts, three by way of TKO, despite upsetting the Matadors a week earlier at home.
The Miami Gallos, 3-6 overall, look to break a four-match winless streak, but the team has yet to win on the road in any of their five matches. The Gallos’ last match saw them drop a 4-1 decision to the Mexico City Guerreros as they suffered their first home loss of the season.
The boxers competing for the Miami Gallos have a combined 3-9 record this season while Memphis’ combined record is 9-6. Light heavyweight Sijou Shabazz (Las Cruces, N.M.)leads the Miami Gallos team fighting Thursday with a combined 2-2 record. The Las Cruces native has battled back from an 0-2 start. He’ll face a familiar foe in Imre Szello (Cegled, Hungary) as the two met up in each boxer’s season opener back on November 26. The 2008 Olympian Szello got the better of Shabazz that evening, 50-45, 50-45, 48-47.
Szello/Shabazz
Imre Szello (right) of the Memphis Force and Sijou Shabazz (pictured right) will face each other for the second time this season Thursday night in Memphis at the New Daisy Theatre. Szello, a 2008 Olympian from Hungary, earned the victory during their first meeting.
The Memphis Force will also be lead by 2008 Olympian Raynell Williams (Cleveland, Ohio) and he’ll also square off against a familiar opponent and fellow Olympian as Roberto Navarro (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) of the Miami Gallos got the call to take on Williams in a battle of Olympic lightweights. Williams opened up his WSB career against Navarro back on November 26 and looked strong, scoring a 49-45, 48-46, 49-46 decision.
It is hard to consider heavyweight Paul Koon (Philadelphia, Pa.) a WSB newcomer considering he’s been with the Miami Gallos squad since the team was formed, but here he is in the 11th week of the season, getting his first real opportunity to fight. Koon has battled weight issues all season hovering between trying to make it as a light heavyweight and now finally succumbing to being a heavyweight. Koon, a 2008 National Golden Gloves silver medalist, will battle Cam Thompson (Uniondale, N.Y.) in tonight’s fight. Thompson brings a 2-2 WSB record and a pair of USA Boxing national titles into the contest.
Another matchup in this five-bout card will feature bantamweights Ernesto Garza (Saginaw, Mich.) of the Memphis Force and Luis Miguel Diaz (Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) of the Miami Gallos. Garza is 1-1 on the year, while Diaz is still gunning for his first victory after four previous failed attempts.
Also fighting will be middleweights Terrell Gausha (Cleveland, Ohio) of the Memphis Force and Felix Rodriguez (Vega Baja, Puerto Rico) of the Miami Gallos. Gausha has been one of the most active and resilient fighters all season among the WSB Americas 60-plus boxers and comes into this contest with a 3-2 overall record. Rodriguez, a late addition to the Gallos, has an 0-1 record.
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.