NEWPORT'S Sean McGoldrick suffered defeat as the British Lionhearts completed its home fixtures for this season of World Series of Boxing (WSB) with a 5-0 defeat against a superb Cuba Domodores team at the Copper Box Arena on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London.

An inexperienced Lionhearts team, which also featured two WSB debutants, delivered a number of creditable performances but were unable to get the better of an experienced and skillful Cuban line-up.

Strong debuts by light-flyweight Joe Maphosa and middleweight Troy Williamson were the bright spots of the evening for the Lionhearts against the reigning WSB champions and favourites for this year’s crown.

In the first bout of the evening, Middlesbrough’s Maphosa acquitted himself well against Cuba’s vastly experienced Joahnys Agilagos, consistently landing with hooks and shots down the middle, and was unlucky to find himself on the wrong end of a split decision.

In the middleweight bout Williamson - who along with Maphoso only joined the GB Boxing squad six months ago - faced a baptism of fire against the boxer ranked second in the division, Arlen Lopez.

The Darlington man had to withstand a standing count in the second round but re-grouped well and showed character and skill to come back strongly and see out the five rounds against a vastly more experienced opponent.

The bantamweight contest saw another brave performance as St Joseph's star McGoldrick recovered from a slow start to make Cuba’s Andy Cruz work hard for his victory.

TKO’s by the lavishly gifted light-welterweight Yasnier Toledo Lopez and heavyweight Erislandy Savon, against Sam Maxwell and Ionet Mirel-Jitaru, secured the other two bouts of the evening for the Domodores who remain unbeaten this season.

Next-up for the Lionhearts is a final away trip of the season to take on the Mexico Guerreros on Friday, April 24 in Mexico City.

More details on the British Lionhearts are available at worldseriesboxing.com/ and by following the team on twitter at @Brit_Lionhearts.

WSB is the only Global Team Boxing competition where national teams go head to head in a league format.

Developed by the International Boxing Association (AIBA), this unique competition brings together the best Olympic and national boxers in an exciting team format with worldwide appeal.

Season five sees 16 teams compete in two groups of eight with the top three teams qualifying for play-offs.

The boxers compete without vests or headguards in five three-minute rounds. There are five bouts per match and scoring is through the 10-point-must-system.