Paris made up a 3-2 deficit from the first leg to finish the evening 6-4 on aggregate after a superlative performance by the team led by Ireland's John Joe Nevin.

Nevin returned to action for Paris in the bantamweight opener against Mirzhan Rakhimzhanov having missed both semi-finals after struggling to make the WSB's bantamweight 54kg limit but a superb performance brought him an impressive unanimous decision to draw Paris United level at 3-3 after the opening bout.

"When I got the call to ask me to make the weight for the final I was only too willing to come," Nevin said.

"I came out a day before the weigh-in and I wasn't too sure what to expect about making the weight.

"But to box the way I did tonight I'm very happy with my performance."


Astana's Yerzhan Mussafirov then put his team ahead against Paris' Abdelkader Chadi from Algeria but Michel Tavares of Paris put in an outstanding display in the middleweight bout to defeat the Olympic champion Bakhyt Sarsekbayev of Astana by unanimous decision to bring the contest to 4-4.

Abdelkader Bouhenia of Paris then beat Marat Moldgagereyev in a thrilling light heavyweight contest before in the final contest to decide the destination of the trophy, Paris' youth world champion Filip Hrgovic put in an outstanding performance to claim a unanimous victory over Sardor Abdullaev in the heavyweight bout and sealed overall victory for Paris by 6-4.

"It's not the first time I've had this kind of pressure on my back," Hrgovic said.

"But I thought to myself, I have to do it for the team."

Paris United pocketed a cheque for £305,000 ($500,000) in addition to the coveted WSB Team Championship trophy but it is not yet the end of the season as the individual championships are scheduled in Guiyang on May 26 and 27 with the first qualifying places at the London 2012 Olympic Games at stake and individual prizes of £12,217 ($20,000) on offer.

Paris United's head coach Kevinn Rabaud will be returning with Nordine Oubaali to contest the bantamweight title but Rabaud will be sporting a different look as he promised to shave his head if his team won the title.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]


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