The ABS Youth select team arrived in Russia on Monday 18th March 2013, after a long journey which started the previous day, with a total of 3 different flights taking in Paris and Moscow on the way!
The team consists of the following boxers;
49kg David Birrrel, 52kg Stephen Boyle, 56kg Ukasher Farooq, 64kg Sam Ball, 69kg Jordan McShane & 81kg Paul Burns.
The Nikolay Pavlyukov Memorial International tournament is taking place in the Volygrad Sports complex, situated on the coast of the Black Sea near the city of Anapa. A total of 16 countries are being represented in the AIBA ‘A’ Class competition, with some of the best ranked Youth boxers taking part from the world over, including Cuba, Ukraine and not forgetting the hosts Russia.
Tuesday 19th March:
69kg Jordan McShane SCO v Artur Krizhanovskiy GER
First up for Team Scotland was 69kg representative Jordan McShane, who was up against the south paw Russian Krizhanovisky, who is representing Germany in the tournament. Krizhanovisky started fast right from the opening bell, forcing Jordan back with effective head and body attacks. Jordan struggled to find his range as the round matured, mainly due to the slick footwork and ring craft of Krizhanovisky. However, the last quarter of the round saw Jordan put together some positive combinations at mid-range, but the water tight defence of Krizhanovisky was proving difficult to penetrate, with the score after the first round an accurate 2 – 6 in favour Krizhanovisky.
Jordan knew he had to step up both work rate and intensity going into the second round, and did so starting very positive. Attacking behind the jab, Jordan met Krizhanovisky in the centre of the ring and impressed his stinging lead hook on his opponent. However, just as the Scotsman started to take the initiative in the contest, Krizhanovisky wound up a spiteful rear hook to the body, catching Jordan just behind the ribcage forcing a standing 8 count. Jordan looked to have recovered from the punch at the end of the count, and again started to press on his opponent, but unfortunately Krizhanovisky launched another accurate rear hook to the body at long range. Again, showing good resilience and grit, Jordan recovered from the second standing 8 count and looked to take the offensive again. But the clever Krizhanovisky saw his opportunity to attack with venom, landing the very effective body shot as his last punch of the attack. Quite rightly this forced the referee to impose a third and final count, unfortunately concluding the contest in favour of Krizhanovisky.
Winner: Artur Krizhanovskiy GER
Wednesday 20th March (First session):
49kg David Birrel SCO v Pavel Federov RUS
Next up for Team Scotland was David Birrel, facing another Russian Pavel Federov in the 49kg category. As expected the tall rangy Russian started fast, looking to dominate the centre of the ring using the long lead hand to protect his position in the ring. David attempted to close down the range, moving his trunk and head so as not to present a static target whilst edging forward. However, the majority of the first round saw the Russian win the distance battle, throwing long range attacks then moving round the side to evade the Scotsman’s close range attacks. Score at the end of the first round: 0 – 3 in favour of Federov.
The Scottish light flyweight went into the second round eager to take it to his opponent, and immediately took the initiative by employing solid front foot pressure to disturb his opponent’s rhythm. David launched his attacks from mid-range, following up with cute bent arm punches to penetrate the guard of his Russian opponent. The Scotsman kept the momentum throughout the majority of the round, stalking his opponent round the ring in order to seize the attacking opportunity when it arose. David definitely led the battle in the second round pulling some vital points back, which culminated in the score reading 4 – 6 at the end of the second round.
With the bout hanging in the balance going into the final round, Federov immediately caught the eye of the judges with some clinical long range straight punching. However, this did not stop David pushing his opponent on the back foot attempting to negate the height and reach advantage of the Russian. David looked to be getting success as he pressed on his opponent right to the closing bell, undoubtedly showing his attributes to be mixing it with the best Youth boxers in the world. Unfortunately however, the Russian landed the clearer punches in the penultimate round, with Federov winning the contest by a score of 6 – 10.
Winner: Pavel Federov RUS
ABS looks forward to reporting on the next chapter of the action on completion of today’s second session of boxing , where 56kg Ukashar Farooq and 64kg Sam Ball are up next for Team Scotland in the following contests:
56kg Ukasher Farooq SCO v Nikita Kuznetsov RUS
64kg Vilderey Garsiya CUB v Sam Ball SCO
Today’s second session will commence at 5pm local time (4 hours ahead of GMT), with Ukasher and Sam expected to box around 6.30pm and 8pm respectively.
