With the two sides tied at 2-2 in the second leg following a 3-2 win for Kazakhstan in yesterday’s first, super heavyweight Ivan Dychko secured the decisive victory at the National Tennis Centre in Astana by beating Cuba’s Yohandi Toirac in the final bout of the tie. 

The second leg began with a blistering flyweight battle between Kazakhstan's Olzhas Sattibayev and Cuba’s Yosbany Veitia.

Cuban champion Veitia was undefeated in the competition heading into the contest, and was the overwhelming favourite to even up the aggregate scoring.

Sattibayev had different ideas though, and stood firm from the outset, cutting an imposing figure in the centre of the ring.

The Astana Arlans fighter was superb at breaking up the rhythm of Veitia, and ultimately claimed the victory 49-46 across the board.

With Kazakhstan 4-2 up on aggregate with just four fights to go, there was immense pressure on Cuban lightweight Lazaro Alvarez, who topped his division’s rankings after the group stages. 

As a two-time International Boxing Association (AIBA) world champion, Alvarez is used to competing on the big stage, and expertly manoeuvred himself through his clash with Zakir Safiullin to win the contest by split decision.

Astana Arlans still held an overall advantage on aggregate however, and their lead lengthened in the next contest after arguably one of the greatest performances in WSB history.

Aslanbek Shymbergenov is the current Kazakh national champion, but was an overwhelming underdog in his welterweight clash with London 2012 Olympic gold medallist and former AIBA world champion Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo.

Sotolongo’s status as the favourite was further strengthened in the opening round as he opened up his full range of shots, with a consistent variation of stinging punches dazzling even the partisan crowd.

The Cuban has had a mixed campaign in WSB this year, but looked back to his best in the first two rounds, and looked set to romp home to a comfortable victory.

But, a hugely unlikely Shymbergenov comeback, sparked in the third round as his jabs and quick right hands started to make their mark, saw him claim a well-deserved unanimous decision verdict.

Kazakhstan were now ahead 2-1 on the night, and 5-3 on aggregate, which meant that Cuba’s two-time world champion Julio Cesar La Cruz needed to defeat Astana Arlans light heavyweight Nurdaulet Zharmanov in order to keep the Domadores’ dreams alive.

An outstanding performance from La Cruz marked the first time that a Cuban fighter had looked completely at ease in the ring during the Finals, and resulted in an extremely wide unanimous decision victory.

With the scoring even on the night with one match to go, there was potentially the requirement for a tie-breaker sudden death bout for the third successive season,  if Cuba prevailed.

But Dychko completely controlled his bout with Cuba’s Toirac, making his first appearance of the season.

The London 2012 bronze medallist was the coolest man in the building, allowing him to produce a methodical performance built on stiff jabs and stinging right hands.

The tactics worked to perfection as he claimed the vital and historic victory without losing a single round on any of the three scorecards. 


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