The chase to become the first team in World Series of Boxing history to win a third star ended with a brilliant Final in Astana on Saturday evening, as the Astana Arlans Kazakhstan fought back to a quite brilliant win in Astana. Having taken a convincing lead, the Arlans allowed the Domadores back into the match and to the brink of victory, before another spirited comeback forced the Tie-Break, in which Flyweight Olzhas Bainiyazov earned himself hero status in Kazakhstan by delivering the crucial victory and earning his side a remarkable 6-5 victory.

Temirtas Zhussupov and Johanys Argilagos were the first boxers into the ring at Light Flyweight (49kg), and both looked focussed on getting their team off to the perfect start. Argilagos kept his guard high and solid, using that strong base to fire off some flashing rights, while Zhussupov, not wanting to overcommit, was reduced to chopping rights to test his opponent’s reflexes. Two rounds down, the Cuban came out stronger in the third, but after edging a scrappy fourth, it was the Kazakh who made it through to give the Arlans a precious lead.

With the tagline of Hit Harder, the Super Boxing League returned to action this weekend as the final two teams from Group B started their campaign here at the Siri Fort Squash & Badminton Stadium. In what turned out to be a roller-coaster ride for both the teams, Maratha Yoddhas overcame a 0-9 deficit to beat the Mumbai Assassins 10-9 to claim their maiden victory of the Super Boxing League.

It was Mumbai Assassins’ Asif Asad Khan, Pawan Goyat and Manjit Kolekar who gave their side a 9-0 lead after three bouts, in the presence of Bollywood actors Angad Bedi and Kirti Kulhari. Also present on the occasion was Bollywood producer-director Madhur Bhandarkar who witnessed the Maratha Yoddhas produce a stunning fight back into the match through skipper Deepak Tanwar, Vivek Jangra and Sandeep Chhikara as the latter got the all-important victory over his opponent by a Technical Knock Out. 

Australian professional boxer Jeff Horn clinched the World Boxing Organization (WBO) Welterweight World title, defeating the Philippines' Manny Pacquiao by an unanimous decision on Sunday.

The 12-round fight at the Suncorp Stadium in front of more than 55,000 spectators ended with a controversial decision, with the three judges deciding in favour of the 29-year-old Horn, scoring 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113. However, other experts and analysts following the bout said they thought Pacquiao had won the fight, with points oscillating between 117-111 and 116-112.

K. Shyam Kumar took gold in the men's Light Flyweight (49kg) category as Indian boxers finished their campaign at the Thailand International Tournament with two medals on Saturday.

Shyam was scheduled to take on reigning Olympic and Asian champion Hasanboy Dusmatov of Uzbekistan in the final. But the Uzbek was forced to pull out of the bout due to an injury which handed the gold medal to the Indian. This is the second time Shyam has won gold in this tournament. He had earlier emerged champion in the 2015 edition of this event.