The first test event of the World Series of Boxing (WSB) was held at the Sagan Olympic Complex in Baku last night and saw the Blue team, featuring the top European boxers, triumph over the Reds.

In a realistic test of the future WSB competition format, the boxers had been divided into two teams and trained for 10 days before the first simulation of the two-hour matches between the 12 WSB franchises teams that will be a regular feature of the boxing calendar from November this year.

The Blue team won four of the evening's five bouts, meaning victories for the Ukrainian duo Vitaliy Volkov and Sergiy Derevyanchenko, France's Ludovic Groguhe and Hungary's Istvan Bernath. Brazil's Everton Lopes was the only non-European to win a bout with the Red team's single victory of the evening.

In the opening bout of the event, Vitaliy Volkov beat European champion and German number one Denis Makarov in the bantamweight (54kg) category. Despite the defeat, Makarov enjoyed the experience of training with a new team. "I get excited before every bout, but I was the first out tonight so I think nerves did play a part," he said. "It wasn't easy and you need to adapt your strength over the five rounds. You need to be more careful without headguards as well. I enjoyed the experience and we worked well as a team."

The Red team took their only victory of the evening in the lightweight (61kg) bout when youngster Everton Lopes from Brazil upset Georgia's Kobar Pkhakadze. The surprise victory raises Lopes' value to the WSB Franchise teams and builds on a promising early career that has seen him make the quarterfinals at the 2009 AIBA World Championships and the 2009 AIBA President's Cup at only 19 years of age.

In the middleweight (73kg) contest, Ukrainian national champion Sergiy Derevyanchenko beat Brazil's Yamaguchi Falcao. Derevyanchenko took gold at the 2009 AIBA President's Cup but Yamaguchi was thwarted at the same event by Moldova's Victor Cotiujanschii.

In the evening's most anticipated bout, Sijuola Shabazz from the United States faced France's Ludovic Groghue. Shabazz had been talking the talk in the run-up to the event, but it was Groghue who walked the walk on the day, easing in front to victory over the five rounds. After his win he said: "A professional career would do me good. It's nice to win. I give my all and I train hard and do my best to get some victories. It would be nice to make the Olympic Games and why not even win a medal, but they are just around the corner."

In the heavyweight (+91kg) contest Hungary's Istvan Bernath defeated Javier Torres from the USA on the only split decision of the evening. The Hungarian reflected on the need to adapt to the longer duration of the bouts, a sentiment echoed by many of the other boxers on the evening. "I feel very good. I enjoyed fighting over 5 rounds. I was fine over four rounds but a bit tired in the fifth. I just need to train a little bit more and I will be fine," he said.

Photo caption: France's Ludovic Groghue (left) on his way to victory against Sijuola Shabazz of the USA in the light heavyweight bout