A new tournament, the World Boxing Super Series is getting underway later this year. The idea is that it slots into the existing competitive framework that boxing already has but leads entrants to prize money and ultimately the โMuhammad Ali trophy.โ
The inaugural tournament will involve two weight classes, super-middleweight and cruiserweight. Boxers who have already confirmed their entry are WBA super-middleweight champ George Groves, WBC cruiserweight champ Mairis Briedis, IBF cruiser champ Murat Gassiev and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk.
โIt works with promoters. Itโs not about taking over and promoting, trying to take fighters away, itโs working with promoters and itโs working with the sanctioning bodies,โ Kalle Sauerland told Boxing News. โWeโre going to work with all different promoters and try to put on the best versus the best. The first few weโre going to work on are the cruiserweights and the super-middleweights and weโll see where it goes from there. Itโs not a single season tournament, thatโs not the ideaโฆ Itโs planned to work over many years.”
The concept is significantly different from Al Haymonโs Premier Boxing Champions. โPremier Boxing Champions, itโs totally different. The PBC has a huge amount of power in the States, has signed a lot of fighters. I think theyโve put on some great fights. This is not a promotional concept, itโs not trying to be a new sanctioning body. Itโs not trying to be anything thatโs taking away from what exists. Itโs a tournament in the sport. Itโs an invitation tournament. No oneโs signed up afterwards, the belts are in and out and if they lose theyโre out. Itโs similar to other sports. Thereโs no delays in this tournament if fighters are injured, the tournament moves on. Thereโs no hold up, thereโs no wait,” Sauerland said.
โItโs fixed dates, September, October are the quarter-finals. January, February semis and the finalโs in May.โ
Sauerland explained, โThe people behind it are a company called Highlight, which is a family of companies that started the Champions League football in the 90s and Modern Times group, one of the largest, stock listed companies in media and entertainment in Europe and those are the two principle shareholders. We developed an idea over four years, a pretty basic idea, quarter-finals, semi-finals, final, with the Ali [name] as the ambassador, the Ali family, the Ali estate, to create a tournament which wouldnโt take away anything. So weโre not interested in replacing belts or doing anything with belts. The ecosystem of boxing should survive. It should add to the sport.โ