It does not appear that the super middleweight bracket is likely to live up to the extremely high standards set so far by the cruiserweight field, but nonetheless the World Boxing Super Series has managed to officially land two unbeaten fighters in England’s Jamie Cox and Erik Skolund of Sweden. They join WBA super middleweight titlist George Groves as the second and third entrants into the eight man tournament.
The circumstances that will probably lead to less top super middleweights than top cruiserweights in the two tournaments are understandable. Cruiserweight is definitely deeper and arguable better, but the fighters also do not consistently make good money. With fifty million dollars to be spread out among purses for the two tournaments, that equals about roughly 1.7 million dollars per fighter per fight. A number of the top super middleweights can come close to those earnings on their own without being tied into a dangerous field while very few cruiserweights can.
Still, a tournament between fighters on the level of Jamie Cox (22-0, 12 KOs) and Erik Skoglund (26-0, 12 KOs) is still a wonderful idea. These are quality professionals in need of a step up to the true world stage and they will be able to find it in one another in an organized, fan friendly format. With five spots still remaining before the final deadline, the field could get even better as well. It should be noted that Skoglund will be dropping from light heavyweight for this tournament.
The tentative cruiserweight field includes the following confirmed participants: IBF titlist Murat Gassiev (24-0, 17 KOs), WBC titlist Mairis Briedis (22-0, 18 KOs), former long reigning titlists Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (53-3-1, 37 KOs) and Marco Huck (40-4-1, 27 KOs), as well as young top Cuban contender Yunier Dorticos (21-0, 20 KOs). Very credibly rumored participants in recent former titlist Krzysztof Glowacki (27-1, 17 KOs), WBO titlist Okelsandr Usyk (12-0, 10 KOs), and Dmitry Kudryashov (21-1, 21 KOs) could round out the field in the next week or so.
The schedule for the tournament will be as follows: Seedings will be announced on July 8th. The committee will seed the top four fighters who will then choose their opponents from the other four. The first round will be fought in September, the semi-finals in “early 2018,” and the finals in May of 2018. That is a fast paced schedule that will ask fighters to be willing and able to fight up to three top opponents in nine months. No word on television partners as of yet.
