We have plenty to discuss concerning season two of the World Boxing Super Series. The cruiserweight field and quarterfinal gameplan have all been announced. We also have a fight for Jorge Linares and a lost fight for Jose Uzcategui and more.
- WBSS Cruisers – We have the field and the matchups for the World Boxing Super Series season two cruiserweight tournament. It is still a good field, but basically anything they trotted out here was going to feel like a let down after that loaded tournament. The top seed this time around is Mairis Briedis back for a second helping while second seeded Yunier Dorticos also returns. Everyone else is new. Here are the matchups: Top seeded Mairis Briedis (24-1,18 KOs) fights #8 Noel Gevor (23-1, 10 KOs), the winner of which will meet the winner between #4 Ruslan Fayfer (23-0, 16 KOs) and #5 seeded Andrew Tabiti (16-0, 13 KOs). #2 Yunier Dorticos (22-1, 21 KOs) headlines the other side of the bracket against #7 Mateusz Masternak (41-4, 28 KOs). #3 Krzysztof Glowacki (30-1, 19 KOs) and #6 Maksim Vlasov (42-2, 25 KOs) will battle for the right to meet the winner in the semifinals.I have no idea why Fayfer is the four seed when I would personally put him definitely behind Tabiti and Vlasov and maybe even last, but it is what it is.
- WBSS Quarters –As has already been reported, Naoya Inoue will kick off the second season on October 7th against Juan Carlos Payano in Japan. What we didn’t know was that a junior welterweight quarterfinal would be the co-main event in the form of WBA titleholder Kyril Relikh (22-2, 19 KOs )against Russian former holder of the belt Eduard Troyanovsky (27-1, 24 KOs). In fact, the entirety of season two’s quarterfinals are going to be run off in doubleheaders over six consecutive Saturdays. The exact dates and locations of the fights haven’t been announced yet, but this is a much more exciting and fan friendly format to use going forward. This means there will be a DAZN broadcast World Boxing Super Series card featuring two tournament fights every Saturday from October 7th to November 10th. I think we can all get behind that.
- Single – Jose Uzcategui (27-2, 23 KOs) is accepting applications for a new opponent for his September 28th ESPN+ main event. Ezequiel Maderna is out and good riddance. That was a horrible and one sided matchup. I don’t suspect we will end up with much better in the end, but we can hope. The Argentinian regional level fighter reportedly has had visa issues that make it too risky to continue with him in the main event slot so close to the fight.
- Linares v4 – Finally, three division titleholder Jorge Linares (44-4, 27 KOs) is looking to add his name to the much more exclusive club of four division champs. He’ll be moving to junior welterweight on September 29th against Abner Cotto (23-3, 12 KOs), cousin of more famous Miguel Angel Cotto. Abner was once considered somewhat of a prospect in his own right, but he lost almost all of his step ups by stoppage and has been inactive for the past three years. Needless to say, Jorge is dipping his toe gently into the 140 lbs waters. It makes sense. Not only is he moving up in weight, but Linares is also coming off a devastating stoppage loss late in a highly competitive fight with pound for pound king Vasyl Lomachenko. An easy touch is boxing business as usual after a loss in a big fight.
