US$50 million and Ali Trophy for new boxing tournament
The goal, really, is to try to attract at least two champions from each weight class.
NEW YORK: Organisers of a new US$ 50 million boxing tournament unveiled plans Thursday for the World Boxing Super Series, a September-to-May event with two weight classes of fighters chasing the Muhammad Ali Trophy.
While developers were hopeful of a Champions League-style event, using top talent to produce global attention and an ultimate winner, they have no deals with promoters or fighters and aren’t certain what divisions will be featured when brackets are revealed in June.
“The goal, really, is to try to attract at least two champions from each weight class,” said Richard Schaefer, chairman of the event, with past champions and rising young stars planned to complete the ideal bracket.
Advanced talks were underway with US telecaster Showtime, Schaefer said, but a final deal would depend on the weight classes involved.
Welterweights offer some of the sport’s biggest names, such as Manny Pacquiao, Keith Thurman, Kell Brook and Amir Khan. But don’t expect that star- studded lineup.
According to Reuters, Schaefer said the winner in each weight class will pocket at least US$ 10 million as prize money and bonuses will be paid through all rounds of the series. They will also be awarded the golden Ali trophy, designed by Silvio Gazzaniga, who designed the FIFA World Cup Trophy.
“The f ighters we want to attract should include current world champions, former world champions, young and rising stars, really a mix so you have the proper storylines,” said Schaefer.
Richard Schaefer, event chairman
“A year ago... I felt the proper class to take would be the welterweights,” Schaefer told AFP. “Today it’s a litt le bit different. They sort of have a tournament already. I don’t think the welterweights would be a class we’d be looking at. We want to focus on weight clases that might have been a bit ignored... I could see a 154-pound weight class. I could see a cruiserweight class. I want to see what comes back to see what would be the best.”
That might scale back the Champions League aspirations to Stoke City or Eintracht Frankfurt levels rather than the Bayern Munichs and Barcelonas of the boxing world.
Still, the junior middleweight ( 154- pound) realm offers Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, unbeaten US twins Jermall and Jermell Charlo and former Cuban amateur star Erislandy Lara.
The cruiserweight ranks have England’s Tony Bellew, Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk, Russia’s unbeaten Murat Gassiev and Poland’s Krzysztof Glowacki.
Boxers rated within the top 15 of the main federations (WBA, WBC, IBF, WBO) will be considered with a panel of former fighters, journalists and broadcasters among those deciding who to invite to compete. Four boxers will be seeded in each class and at a televised “Draft Gala” in June will select their first opponents. The weight classes have yet to be decided.
The inaugural season wi l l feature two weight classes, which along with the boxers involved will be revealed in June at a “Draft Gala” in which four top- seeded rivals will select their quarterfinal foes from the other fighters.
That would set the stage for quarter- f inal bouts next September and October, semifinals next January and February and championship bouts in May 2018, with fights staged mainly in US and European venues, each headlining a card of its own.
Prize money would be divided among all fighters with higher payouts going to winners, the biggest of all to the eventual champion.
Berl in- based S auerland Promotions, Swedish media company Modern Times Group and Swiss-based event marketing firm Highl ight Event and Entertainment have united behind the project as Swiss- registered Comosa AG. — AFP/Reuters