Milan: Mumbai Fighters lost 0-5 to Milano Thunder in the World Series Boxing encounter held here on Friday night. Except for Diwakar Prasad, who put an impressive performance winning four consecutive rounds before being technically knocked out after one strong punch of the opponent packed him out in the fifth round, all other Mumbai Fighters boxers had a nightmare against their opponents.
Mumbai Fighters entered the second phase of 2011-12 World Series of Boxing with a Round Six match against Milano Thunder on January 13, 2012. Standing fifth in the points table of Group A, the Fighters were facing the table-toppers Italian team at the Mediolanum Forum in Assago, Milan.
In Bantamweight, Jitender Kumar fought Vitaliy Volkov who had beaten Balbir Singh when the Italian team had come to India on November 11, 2011. The expectations were high from Jitender but in a unanimous decision of the judges Volkov was declared as the winner by 3-0. Diwakar Prasad, who had beaten Juan Javier Carrasco Herrera of Milano Thunder on November 11, 2011, faced Miklas Vargo in the Lightweight category. The boxer from Milano team had lost his first match of the season against Vazgen Safaryants of Dynamo Moscow but put up a brave fight against the Indian star. Diwakar led the bout throughout the four rounds but a strong punch of Vargo took away the bout as the referee declared Diwakar Technical Knock-Out.
In Middleweight category Mandeep Jhangra was placed against William McLaughlin but he also could not win a single round and was defeated by 0-3. This was Jhangra’s second match this season. He had lost his debut match against Dynamo Moscow in Moscow. Marko Calic after getting a walkover in his previous match against LA Matadors was taking on Ludovic Groguhe in the Lightweight category. Groguhe continuing his cracking form after beating defending Light Heavyweight champ Abdelhafid Benchabla via a Technical Knock Out (TKO) in his first match this season also beaten Calic by 3-0. It was Groguhe’s third consecutive win in his second match this season as he has also beaten Dynamo Moscow’s Eduard Yakushev.
In the Heavyweight category, Venky’s Mumbai Fighters’ new recruit Mihai Muntean fighting his first bout against Michal Olas lost 0-3. Muntean has an impressive 3-3 WSB record while fighting for Baku Fires in the last season.
Match result
BANTAMWEIGHT
Vitaliy Volkov vs Jitender Kumar
Winner: Vitaliy Volkov 3-0
LIGHTWEIGHT
Miklos Varga vs Diwakar Prasad
Winner: Miklos Varga (Diwakar Prasad TKO)
MIDDLEWEIGHT
William McLaughlin vs Mandeep Jangra
Winner: William McLaughlin 3-0
LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT
Ludovic Groguhe vs Marko Calic
Winner: Ludovic Groguhe 3-0
HEAVYWEIGHT
Michal Olas vs Mihail Muntean
Winner: Michal Olas 3-0
