The World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) is a
professional boxing
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...
tournament organised by Comosa AG.
Each weight class features eight boxers competing in an annual
knockout
A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...
competition with the champion from each weight class taking the Muhammad Ali Trophy, named after the former
heavyweight
Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling.
Boxing Professional
Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...
champion
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
, and sharing a total prize fund of U.S. $50 million, with winner of each tournament receiving U.S. $10 million
History
These tournaments are a joint venture between
Sauerland Promotions and
Richard Schaefer under the Comosa AG banner. The total prize money is $50 million.
This is considered the first major
professional boxing
Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse bid, purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regula ...
tournament attempt since the
Super Six World Boxing Classic
The Super Six World Boxing Classic was a professional boxing tournament organized by the Showtime television network in co-operation with Sauerland Event. The tournament was held from 2009 to 2011, with all fights being contested in the super mi ...
, which took place from 2009 to 2011.
The first season of tournament was held from 2017 to 2018 at two
weight class
Weight classes are divisions of competition used to match competitors against others of their own size. Weight classes are used in a variety of sports, especially combat sports (such as boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and wrestling). Altern ...
es:
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 Undisputed championship may refer to:
*Undisputed championship (boxing)
*Undisputed championship (professional wrestling)
An undisputed championship is a professional wrestling term for a champion who has obtained all of the major individual cha ...
since 2006.
At a press conference in London on 9 May 2018, a second season was announced, which took place from 2018 to 2019.
Bantamweight
Bantamweight is a weight class in combat sports. For boxing, the range is above and up to . In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between . In MMA, bantamweight is .
The name for the class is derived from bantam chickens. B ...
and
light welterweight
Light welterweight, also known as junior welterweight or super lightweight, is a weight class in combat sports.
Boxing Professional boxing
In professional boxing, light welterweight is contested between the lightweight and welterweight divisions, ...
was confirmed as two of the three weight classes involved. The third weight class was later revealed to be cruiserweight, following the 2017-18 tournament in that division.
The third season was announced in June 2021, with a single tournament for women's super featherweight boxers.
Qualification
All
WBA,
WBC,
WBO, and
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
world champions were eligible to participate in the tournament, as well as all top 15 world-ranked contenders by each of the 4 sanctioning bodies. Comosa AG contracted eight available fighters per weight class, as well as a few potential back-ups.
In both seasons Comosa has staged a draft gala in
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo (; ; french: Monte-Carlo , or colloquially ''Monte-Carl'' ; lij, Munte Carlu ; ) is officially an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco, specifically the ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is ...
and
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
to publicly announce all tournament participants and determine the draw. During the gala, the four top seeds select their quarter-final opponents from the four unseeded boxers in a live TV show.
Judging
In addition to the three
judges
A judge is an official who presides over a court.
Judge or Judges may also refer to:
Roles
*Judge, an alternative name for an adjudicator in a competition in theatre, music, sport, etc.
*Judge, an alternative name/aviator call sign for a membe ...
customary in pro boxing, the World Boxing Super Series will be an additional fourth judge whose scorecard will be used if the main three judges deliver a draw result. The fourth judge can also come into play in the event that a tournament fight ends in a
no contest
' is a legal term that comes from the Latin phrase for "I do not wish to contend". It is also referred to as a plea of no contest or no defense.
In criminal trials in certain United States jurisdictions, it is a plea where the defendant neith ...
or a no-decision and the three official scorecards do not determine a winner.
In the case of a draw, if two of the now four score the bout in for one boxer and at least one of the other two of the four judges score the bout a draw, the fight will be won by the boxer who won the bout in two scorecards. In addition, if a fight remains a draw even after adding the fourth judge's scorecard to those of the three official judges, the series will use a countback method to determine who advances in the tournament. The countback is a
sudden-death method of scoring using the three official judges' scorecards to determine who advances. Beginning with the scorecards for the 12th or last round that occurred, the boxer who won that particular round on at least two of the three scorecards will advance. If the bout was scored evenly in the 12th round or the last round that occurred, the advancing boxer will then be determined by who won at least a majority of scorecards in the preceding round. If neither boxer won the penultimate round on at least a majority of the three official scorecards, each preceding round's scorecards will be examined until a round where one boxer was declared the winner of that round on a majority of the three official scorecards.
Seasons and finals
Awards
The
WBC intends to award the champions its commemorative
Diamond title. Additionally, the winners will receive the
Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...
Trophy.
Due to the 'bracket style' nature of the tournament, the winner of each tournament could claim all world titles in the field.
Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk ( uk, Олекса́ндр Олекса́ндрович У́сик; born 17 January 1987) is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the unified ...
, the winner of the 2018 cruiserweight tournament, unified the
WBO,
IBF
The International Boxing Federation (IBF) is one of four major organizations recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) which sanctions professional boxing bouts, alongside the World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Counci ...
,
WBC and
WBA cruiserweight titles and became the first cruiserweight
undisputed champion Undisputed championship may refer to:
*Undisputed championship (boxing)
*Undisputed championship (professional wrestling)
An undisputed championship is a professional wrestling term for a champion who has obtained all of the major individual cha ...
in over a decade, and the first in the four-belt era.
See also
*
Super Six World Boxing Classic
The Super Six World Boxing Classic was a professional boxing tournament organized by the Showtime television network in co-operation with Sauerland Event. The tournament was held from 2009 to 2011, with all fights being contested in the super mi ...
References
External links
*
{{WBSS tournaments
Super Series
The Super Series were exhibition games between Soviet teams and NHL teams that took place on the NHL opponents' home ice in North America from 1976 to 1991. The Soviet teams were usually club teams from the Soviet hockey league. The exception ...
2017 in boxing
2018 in boxing
2019 in boxing
World Boxing Super Series
The World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) is a professional boxing tournament organised by Comosa AG.
Each weight class features eight boxers competing in an annual knockout competition with the champion from each weight class taking the Muhammad Al ...
Recurring sporting events established in 2017