Calum French got the rough end of the stick as he suffered his first defeat in World Series of Boxing.
The Birtley ABC boxer had been unbeaten in two seasons of WSB with British Lionhearts until he lost a points decision in the second leg of GB’s semi-final against Astana Arlans in Kazakhstan.
Had French (pictured) got the nod against Serik Temirzhanov it would have given the Lionhearts a 2-0 lead on the night and a 4-3 aggregate victory.
Alas, a win for Will Cawley was the sole victory for the British Lionhearts as they lost 4-1 to Astana Arlans in Atyrau City.
It gave the Kazakhs a 7-3 aggregate victory and kept them on course to retain their title.
Cawley’s split decision win over Saken Bibossinov in the flyweight contest levelled the match at 3-3 to briefly raise hopes of a Lionhearts’ comeback but the team was unable to capitalise against a tough and experienced Arlans line-up.
French narrowly lost on a split decision against Temirzhanov in a lightweight contest he appeared to have done enough to get the verdict in.
The Azerbaijan judge scored it 48-47 to the Gateshead U60 kilo star but the officials from Italy and Korea marked it 48-47 the other way.
The rest of the card produced unanimous decisions with Kazakhstan showing their might.
Carl Fail was beaten by Aslanbek Shymbergenov at welterweight, while Swedish light-heavy Liridon Nuha lost to Bek Nurmaganbet and super-heavyweight Soloman Dacres succumbed to Kamshybek Kunkabayev.
Despite falling at the semi-final stage, the WSB programme must be rated as a success for the Lionhearts especially give they took their fixtures outside London.
Britain’s elite entertained fans in Gateshead, Liverpool, Newport and Sheffield and it would be great to see them around the UK again in 2019.
Words: Roy Kelly
