Victories for Harvey Horn, Peter McGrail and Sam Maxwell saw the British team race into a 3-0 lead.
And although Valerii Kharlavov pulled one back with a split-decision victory over one of the Lionhearts’ overseas boxers, Denis Radovan of Germany, a hard-fought win by Croatia’s Bepo Filipi restored the British outfit’s three bout lead.
It put the Lionhearts in a strong position ahead of Friday’s night’s second-leg which will feature three members of the GB Boxing squad in Luke McCormack, Ekow Essuman and Frazer Clarke.
The Lionhearts need to win just two more bouts to take the match. If the scores are tied at 5-5 then Troy Williamson will box for the Lionhearts in the tie-breaker.
Tickets for Friday night’s second leg quarter-final at York Hall are available at http://tickets.sky.com/Boxing/World-Series-of-Boxing.
The match will also be shown live on BoxNation at 8.00pm.
BoxNation is available on Sky 437/490HD, Virgin 525, Freeview 255, TalkTalk 415. Subscribe at www.boxnation.com or watch online at watch.boxnation.com and via iPhone, iPad or Android and Amazon devices.
Results of tonight’s bouts and tomorrow’s second leg match-ups are below:
| Weight class | British Lionhearts | Ukraine Otamans | |
| Thursday 20 April 2016 | |||
| Light-fly (49kg): | Harvey Horn (GB) | Won 3:0 | Denys Kozaruk (UKR) |
| Bantam (56kg): | Peter McGrail (GB) | Won 3:0 | Vladyslav Vyetoshkin (UKR) |
| Light-welter (64kg): | Sam Maxwell (GB) | Won 3:0 | Voldomyr Matviichuk (UKR) |
| Middle (75kg): | Denis Radovan (Ger) | Lost (split) | Valerii Kharlavov (UKR) |
| Heavy (91kg): | Bepo Filipi (Cro) | Won 3:0 | Victor Trush (UKR) |
| Friday 21 April 2016 | |||
| Fly (52kg): | Ronny Beblik (GER) | Vs | Denys Shkarubo (UKR) |
| Light (60kg): | Luke McCormack (GB) | Vs | Vitaly Solyanik (UKR) |
| Welter (69kg): | Ekow Essuman (GB) | Vs | Serhi Bohachuk (UKR) |
| Light-heavy (81kg): | Radoslav Pantaleev (Bul) | Vs | Denys Solonenko (UKR) |
| Super-heavy (91kg+): | Frazer Clarke (GB) | Vs | Vladyslav Sirenko (UKR) |
| Tie-break | |||
| Middleweight (75kg) | Troy Williamson (GB) | Vs | Vladyslav Voitaliuk (UKR) |
More details on the Lionhearts and WSB are available at http://www.worldseriesboxing.com/ and by following the Lionhearts on twitter at @Brit_Lionhearts.
