250px, LA Matadors vs. Moscow Dynamo in Hollywood, CA on 4 December 2011. Both amateur boxers compete without vests or head guards. The World Series of Boxing or WSB was an international

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

tournament that allowed amateur boxers to compete professionally while maintaining amateur status and

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

eligibility. It was organized by AIBA from 2010 to 2018. AIBA confirmed in 2019 that the league had ceased operations amid mounting financial losses.

History

The World Series of Boxing had a precursor in the International Boxing League, a short-lived U.S. venture established in November 1969 after the first U.S.—Soviet boxing dual meet in 1969. The league functioned until 1971 and hosted several

exhibition An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibitio ...

tours of the Soviet boxing team across the United States to cities where IBL teams were located.

Bill Daniels Robert William Daniels Jr. (July 1, 1920 – March 7, 2000) was an American cable television executive and owner of professional sports teams. He was a pioneer in building the cable television industry and was known as the "father of cable televi ...

was the boss of the league. The league folded due to the unprofitable nature of amateur boxing in North America.

Format

Unlike in

amateur boxing Amateur boxing is a variant of boxing practiced at the collegiate level, at the Olympic Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games, as well as many associations. Amateur boxing bouts are short in duration, comprising three rounds of three ...

at the start of the World Series of Boxing's existence, competitors fought bare-chested and were not permitted to wear protective headgear. Each participating boxer was drafted by one of its international franchises, and could earn money by taking part in professional-style bouts. The competitors were allowed to maintain Olympic and AIBA world championship eligibility. Like

professional boxing Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional bouts are supervised by a regulatory autho ...

, each bout was decided by the scores of three judges, or by a knockout, a technical knockout or a walkover. A WSB meet between two international franchises consisted of bouts in ten (formerly five) weight categories. The fights consisted of five three-minute rounds in each bout and the team that won the most number of bouts won the meet.

Weight classes

Until season 4, the World Series of Boxing had five weight categories which were different from the 10 categories in amateur (Olympic) boxing or 17 categories in

. These were Heavyweight (91+ kg), Light heavyweight (80–85 kg), Middleweight (68–73 kg), Lightweight (57–61 kg) and Bantamweight (50–54 kg). In the fourth season (2013–14), the number of weight classes was increased to ten, mirroring amateur (Olympic) boxing. * Light flyweight (46–49 kg) *

Flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of bo ...

(-52 kg) *

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. Bra ...

(-56 kg) *

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight boxe ...

(-60 kg) *

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, ...

(-64 kg) *

Welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify th ...

(-69 kg) *

Middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have be ...

(-75 kg) *

Light heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

(-81 kg) *

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 W ...

(-91 kg) * Super heavyweight (91+ kg)

Teams

* Algeria Desert Hawks * Argentina Condors * Astana Arlans * Atlas Lions * Baku Fires * British Lionhearts * Caciques de Venezuela * China Dragons * Heroicos de Colombia * Cuba Domadores * D&G Milano Thunder * Dynamo Moscow * German Eagles * Hussars Poland * Mexico Guerreros * Morocco Atlas Lions * Paris United * Puerto Rico Hurricanes * Russian Boxing Team * Türkiye Conquerors * Ukraine Otamans * USA Knockouts * Uzbek Tigers

Results

Performance by club

References

External links

Official site of World Series Boxing (WSB)
{{International Boxing World championships in boxing Amateur boxing