BARRY boxer Andrew Selby continued his unbeaten form in the World Series of Boxing as the British Lionhearts won their quarter final first leg.

The British Lionhearts took a step closer to the semi-finals of the World Series of Boxing with a convincing 4-1 victory over the Mexico Guerreros at York Hall in London last Friday (March 22).

Wins for Andrew Selby, Joe Ward, John Joe Nevin and Joe Joyce sealed the win to continue the Lionhearts strong home form.

Andrew, 24, has now maintained his ranking as the best bantamweight in the competition.

It means the British team will go through to the last four of the competition if they win two bouts in next week’s second leg, when Sean McGoldrick, Sam Maxwell, Kaupo Arro, Babacar Kamara and Uaine Fa box for the Lionhearts in Mexico City.

Rob McCracken, British Lionhearts performance director, said: “It was a great performance tonight from the team.” He added: “However, this tie is far from over and the Mexicans will be a very different proposition at home in next week’s second leg, when we will be competing at very high altitude and the Guerreros will field their strongest boxers.

“There is no room for complacency and there is still a long way to go.”

First up for the Lionhearts was Irish light-heavyweight Joe Ward who started strongly and went on to overwhelm Christian Demaj with a show of power punching to secure a unanimous 50-45 victory.

The Guerreros evened things following an absorbing middleweight bout, which saw the go-forward style of Conrad Cummings eventually weardown the counter-punching of the Lionhearts’ Aston Brown to secure a 50-45 win.

Next up for the Lionhearts was Selby who restored the advantage of the home side as he eased to his sixth win of the season against Aaron Alameda Lopez to maintain his unbeaten record. He was followed by John Joe Nevin who made it 3-1 to the Lionhearts and secured the victory on the night as he cruised to a comfortable win over Fernando Alvarez Diaz, winning every round on all three of the judges’ scorecards.

Heavyweight Joe Joyce rounded the evening off with a unanimous victory over Milutin Stankovic.

All the bouts can be seen here:

The permutations for next week’s second leg, which will be held at an altitude of 2420 meters (7940 feet) in Mexico City, mean the Guerreros will progress to the semi-finals if they win 5-0.

A 4-1 victory for the Mexico team will lead to a box-off at light heavyweight.

Any other score will see the Lionhearts progress into the semis.

For more information on the British Lionhearts see www.britishlionhearts.com or follow @Brit_Lionhearts on twitter.