Having beaten LA Matadors in their last outing, Mumbai Fighters were supposed to be favourites at home against Kazhakstan’s Astana Arlans. Despite some great support from the spectators, the home team, however, had a torrid time against the visitors at the T-Box of the Inorbit Mall. It was nothing but an embarrassing outing for the hosts as they were thrashed 5-0 by the visitors in the fifth round of the World Series Boxing Championship on Friday.

Out of the five bouts, the Light Heavyweight (80-85kg) category tie between Leanid Charnabayeu of Mumbai Fighters and Abdelhafid Benchabla was the most exciting one. In an intense battle, it was Benchabla who walked away with honours. The fight looked quite exciting since both the boxers fought their heart out and it looked like a battle of equals. However, in the end, it boiled down to the judges, who unanimously adjudged the reigning champions Benchabla the winner of the bout with the scoreline reading 45-50 in favour of the Astana pugilist.

Much was expected from the lightweight contestant Diwakar Prasad, who had entered the ring after winning the national championship in Chettinad. However, his was the most disappointing as he conceded the match in the third round itself against Yerzhan Mussafirov.

Mumbai Fighters’s foreign recruit Sanjin-Pol Vrgoc, too, failed to put up a good show. He was outclassed by Astana’s Miras Bairkhanov in the fourth round. He conceded the tie with the score reading 37-38 36-39 36-39. Balbir Singh, however, did show his aggressive side in the Bantamweight (50-54kg) category. In fact, he was warned once for punching his opponent Khabibulla Ismail-Akhunov below the waist.

The 2002 World Cadet Champion managed to land a few punches in the first round against his opponent. It was all downhill for Balbir and the Fighters after the first round as they failed to put up any fight. Balbir looked completely drained and exhausted as Akhunov landed several punches on his head and also knocked him off his feet nine times.