(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) Fresh off an 18-day layoff, the inaugural season of the World Series of Boxing (WSB) resumes again Wednesday night in Miami with a kickoff to 2011 featuring the Memphis Force and Miami Gallos.  The week five matchups also feature an exciting contest between the Americas top two teams with the Los Angeles Matadors visiting the Mexico City Guerreros on Friday, January 7.

Through four weeks, the LA Matadors lead the conference standings with a 3-1 team record, with 10 points overall after taking 15 of their first 20 bouts overall. The Guerreros and Gallos have found great success thus far at home but have struggled in their away contests as both sit at 2-2. The Guerreros have the advantage with two 5-0 wins at home. The Memphis Force are trailing the rest of the teams with a 1-3 record. 

A pair of Matador lightweights headline the individual standings for WSB Americas boxers, standing atop the WSB individual rankings with identical 2-0 records one-third of the way through the season. The individual rankings will ultimately determine the top two boxers in each weight category, who will qualify for the Individual Championships in May 2011, where they will fight for qualification to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Representing the Los Angeles Matadors, Eric Fowler (Houston, Texas) and Everton Lopes (Salvador de Bahia, Brazil) are the class of the lightweight division through four weeks of WSB action.  Fowler has TKO'ed both his opponents thus far while Lopes picked up a big win December 16 with a TKO of 2008 Olympian Raynell Williams (Cleveland, Ohio) of the Memphis Force. 

Lopes will be in action Friday trying to up his record to 3-0 on the season.  To date, the 2008 Brazilian Olympian hasn't allowed an opponent to complete an entire fight with two TKOs thus far. Lopes is one of two Brazilians dominating WSB action thus far on the young season with Yamaguchi Florentino (Espirtú Santo, Brazil) of the Mexico City Guerreros sitting at 2-0 with a chance against the Matadors' Carlos Gongora later this week to make it three straight wins to open his WSB career.  The Brazilians are faring well thus far in WSB action having not lost a bout in seven WSB contests thus far (including Pedro Lima's two wins for the Beijing Dragons).

Brazilian bantamweight Paulo Carvalho (Gandu Bahia, Brazil) of the Miami Gallos was one of the first two boxers to sign a participation agreement with the World Series of Boxing and will finally get his first taste of action tonight against Ernesto Garza (Saginaw, Mich.).  The 2008 Olympian signed back on September 5, 2010. 

Seven Matador boxers in all find themselves among the top-10 individual rankings while 15 WSB Americas fighters are represented in the latest rankings. The Mexico City Guerreros have four top-10 boxers, while the Miami Gallos have three and the Memphis Force with one.