The Kazakh side had won all of their previous 13 encounters but they came up against a resolute Italian team desperate to seal their spot in the quarter-finals.

The hosts started the night as they meant to go on as flyweight Gaurav Bidhuri was on the right side of a split decision in his bout with Kazakhstan's Miras Zhakupov.

Despite the fact that one judge awarded Zhakupov all five rounds, Bidhuri was declared the victor, taking the win by virtue of a single point on the other two scorecards.

That gave the Italian outsiders the belief that they could go on and claim a surprise success and the next fight yielded another victory as Donato Cosenza unanimously beat Roman Chshegrinov in their lightweight contest.

Chasing a 14th straight WSB win, the Astana Arlans Kazakhstan got themselves back into the match as Aslanbek Shymbergenov’s ousted Ireland’s Adam Nolan in the welterweight division.

With the overall score at 2-1, home favourite Valentino Manfredonia then wrapped up Italia Thunder’s superb triumph as he got the better of Hrvoje Sep in their light heavyweight clash to seal his side’s spot in the last eight.

As well as being the deciding fight, the contest also had ramifications at individual level as Manfredonia snatched the last available Rio 2016 Olympic Games quota place for the weight category at the expense of Sep.

The Italian’s crucial victory made Filip Hrgovic’s win over Alessio Spahiu academic in terms of the team result but it was another integral contest concerning the individual super heavyweight division rankings as the Croatian claimed the sought-after Rio 2016 quota spot.

Italia Thunder will now go on to face the Russian Boxing Team after they claimed a narrow 3-2 success over the Morocco Atlas Lions on Friday night (April 24).

Elsewhere, Azerbaijan Baku Fires signed off their regular season with a thumping 5-0 victory against basement team Argentina Condors in Guba.

The result ensured the home side, who were runners-up in last year’s competition, finished second in Group B and they will entertain Mexico Guerreros in the quarter-finals.

Murad Rabadanov set the tone for what proved to be a strong night for the Baku Fires as he won every round of his flyweight clash with Ricardo Maximiliano Ibarra, before debutant Nasraddin Mammadov repeated the feat in his lightweight bout against Brian Ivan Nunez.

The third bout of the night was a walkover in the Azerbaijan team’s favour and London 2012 Olympian Mikhail Dauhaliavets stopped Juan Gabriel Rizzo Patrón in the first round of their light heavyweight fight to give the Azerbaijani outfit a 4-0 lead.

The whitewash was complete when super heavyweight Haji Murtuzaliyev secured another unanimous win for the Azerbaijan Baku Fires by beating Facundo Cesar Ghiglione. 

The regular WSB season concludes on tomorrow as the USA Knockouts host the Puerto Rico Hurricanes in Miami.

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