When the World Boxing Series announced in March that it would be holding a 16-fighter, two-division tournament in which the fighters will split $50 million, the burning question was which divisions would be chosen, with welterweight and super middleweight being the favorites.
Organizers of the World Boxing Series on Tuesday announced that the cruiserweight and super middleweight divisions will be the weight classes for the tournament. The first round is set to begin in September with the quarterfinal bouts. The semifinals will take place in early 2018, with the finals taking place in May of next year.
“We are thrilled to kick off the World Boxing Super Series in style with two of the sport’s most exciting divisions,” said Roberto Dalmiglio, head of Comosa AG’s management board stated in a news release. “The tournament will create never-seen-before drama for fans around the globe.”
The cruiserweight division is one of the most undervalued divisions in the sport, and super middleweight has always been one of the more exciting divisions.
“The cruiserweights and super middleweights have time and time again thrown up thrilling contests, but nobody has ever pitted the top fighters against each other in a fan-friendly, easy-to-understand way within a short period of time,” said Richard Schaefer, Comosa’s chairman of the Americas. “Our revolutionary KO tournament will take less than a year and deliver the crème de la crème in these weights with a blend of past, present and future from the world’s finest fighters.”
The participants in the tournament haven’t been revealed and will be announced in early July during an official presentation gala in Monte Carlo.