3rd World Boxing Super Series Up, Could Include the Lower Weights
By Teodoro Medina Reynoso
PhilBoxing.com
Mon, 29 Mar 2021
Preparations are reportedly underway for the third season of the highly successful World Boxing Super Series after the Covid-19 pandemic forced its cancellation last year.
This has been confirmed by Douglass Fischer, editor in chief of the Ring Magazine, one of the chief supporters of the boxing series which is aimed at pitting various titleholders and top fighters in certain divisions to come up with one universally recognized world champion for each weight class.
Responding to a fight fan query on the topic in his recent twice a week Mailbag column, Fischer said:
"The World Boxing Series will return this year. Our man Kallie Sauerland and company are working on Season 3 as you read this. When will we hear an announcement? Who knows? It is not easy getting world class fighters to face each other in back to back fights these days, but I trust the WBSS will get it done sooner rather than later and I am keeping my fingers crossed for the junior flyweights to be one of the tournaments."
Should a tournament at light flyweight happen, top four seeding will go to Hiroto Kyugochi, the WBA super and Ring lineal champion, fellow Japanese WBC titlist Kenshiro Teraji, IBF titlist Felix Alvarado of Nicaragua and WBO champion Elwin Soto of Mexico.
WBA regular champion is undefeated Carlos Canizales of Venezuela who won the title in 2018 over Reiya Konishi of Japan and has made two successful title defenses. He is figured to get one of the slots.
Two other Japanese are high in ranking namely Tetsuda Hisada and Masamuchi Yabuki, #1 and 2 at WBC while top in the rankings of the other organizations are Daniel Matellon (WBA), Sive Nontsinga (IBF) and Agustin Mauro Gauto (WBO).
Highest rated Filipino is Christian Araneta who is #4, actually #2 at IBF as the top two contenders posts are vacant.
Tough luck, Edward Heno who gave Soto a helluva fight in 2019, is only rated number 7 at WBC.
The presence of many Japanese may facilitate having elimination fights held in Japan involving them. Promoter Bob Arum has confirmed the difficulties and near impossibility of having a foreigner fight in Japan due to its strict 14 day quarantine requirement.
In the later rounds, advancing Japanese fighters may have to fight outside Japan, preferably in the USA to continue competing in the tournament.
Anyway, things are still tentative at this point. If the WBSS tournament season 3 is finalised later and light flyweight is part of it, Araneta and Heno as well as Mark Vicelles may have improved on their ratings.
The WBSS is a professional boxing tournament organized in 2017 by Comosa AG with the Sauerland Promotion of Kallie Sauerland and former Golden Boy Promotion CEO Richard Schaefer as founders.
Each weight class features eight boxers competing in an annual knockout competition with the champion from each weight class taking the Muhammad Ali Trophy, named after the former heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali, and sharing a total prize fund of U.S. $50 million, with winner of each tournament receiving U.S. $10 million.
This is considered the first major professional boxing tournament attempt since the Super Six World Boxing Classic, which took place from 2009 to 2011.
The first season of tournament was held from 2017 to 2018 at cruiserweight and super middleweight. The inaugural tournament started in September 2017 and finished with two finals in the summer of 2018.
With the tournament, the cruiserweight division crowned its first undisputed champion since 2006 in Ukraine's Oleksander Usyk over Mairis Breidis of Lithunia. Meanwhile, Callum Smith of the UK ruled the super middleweight tournament over fellow Briton James Degale.
The second season took place from 2018-19 at bantanweight, super lightweight and another run at cruiserweight following Usyk's move up into the heavyweights.
At the conclusion of these tournaments, Naoya Inoue of Japan, Josh Taylor of UK and Mairis Breidis of Lithuania emerged ultimate winners and crowned champions over fellow finalists Nonito Donaire (Philippines), Regis Prograis (US) and Yunier Dorticos (Cuba).
The author Teodoro Medina Reynoso is a veteran boxing radio talk show host living in the Philippines. He can be reached at teddyreynoso@yahoo.com and by phone 09215309477.
Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.
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