In front of a home crowd the Lionhearts boxers were eager to get off to a positive start and put recent disappointment behind them, and European bronze medallist Jack Bateson duly got them off to a flying start in the flyweight division.

Bateson won every round of his contest against Abdelhakim El Barka to take victory on all three of the judges' scorecards, with two scoring the fight 50:45 and the third judge giving it to the Briton, 50:44.

The tables were turned in the second fight of the night as Algeria Desert Hawks Reda Benbaziz overcame the Lionhearts' Bulgarian international boxer Detelin Dalakliev by a similar margin in the lightweight division, to make it all square after two fights.

Welterweight boxer Ekow Essuman's bout against Sofiane Tabi was a tight fought affair as the Nottingham fighter aimed to put the British Lionhearts back in front on the night.

A series of powerful punches across the five rounds saw Essuman record his second victory of the season, maintaining his unbeaten record at the World Series of Boxing.

It proved to be decisive on the night as Algeria's Nabil Kassel was unable to make the trip to face John Newell in the light-heavyweight division, with the walkover giving the Lionhearts an unassailable advantage.

The British Lionhearts Ekow Essuman continued his good form by winning his welterweight bout in his team's victory against Algeria Desert Hawks ©Getty Images



With victory secured, super-heavyweight Joe Joyce had the opportunity to add further gloss the overall result and he achieved it in style, securing his second stoppage of the season and maintaining his impressive personal record of nine wins from ten WSB fights.

"This was a very inexperienced team so to secure a 4-1 victory is a very good performance by the boxers," said Rob McCracken, British Lionhearts' Head Coach.

"It was great to see Jack win on his debut and both Ekow and Joe continued their good form so there are lots of positives to take from the evening."

The British Lionhearts now face difficult away fixtures against the Russian Boxing Team on February 13 and the Cuba Domadores on February 20, with the Domadores currently sweeping aside everyone in their path in Group A.

The Algeria Desert Hawks are next in action on February 13, where they will face the Ukraine Otamans, who are in action against the Morocco Atlas Lions on Friday evening, while the Cuba Domadores and the Russian Boxing team have home fixtures against the China Dragons and the Mexico Guerreros respectively.

Three other WSB Group B fixtures took place with Rafako Hussars Poland and Italia Thunder demolishing the Argentina Condors and the Puerto Rico Hurricanes by 5-0 scorelines, while the Astana Arlans Kazakhstan earned a narrow 3-2 victory over the Azerbaijan Baku Fires.

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