Great Britain’s best boxers were 10,000 miles away but that has not stopped the British Lionhearts from making progress in the World Series of Boxing.
The Lionhearts secured an exciting 3-2 victory over France’s Fighting Roosters in the WSB group decider in Newport on Saturday night.
It ensured Britain finished top of the division to take the side through to the knock-out stages for which the stars who have been on Commonwealth Games duty will now be available for.
Three boxers, Carl Fail, Ireland guest Joe Ward and Solomon Dacres, delivered victories to delight the noisy crowd at Newport Centre in a tremendous night of boxing.
A fifth round stoppage from Ireland’s Joe Ward (pictured) and a debut victory for GB Boxer, Carl Fail, brought the Lionhearts back in-line with France, after Will Cawley and guest boxer Dzmitry Asanau lost the two opening bouts by unanimous decisions.
It was up to Solomon Dacres to secure the deciding win of the night in his bout against Mihai Nistor.
Solomon set the pace throughout the bout and gained a unanimous victory for himself, ensuring that his team made it through to the next stages of the competition.
Rob McCracken, head coach of the British Lionhearts said: “It was a superb team performance and all five of the boxers did very well.
“The boxers who we would usually feature in the WSB line-up are currently away at the Commonwealth Games, so this gave the other boxers the opportunity to step up and show what they could do, putting in some really good performances.”
