Cruiserweights, super-middleweights to be showcased by World Boxing Super Series
Murat Gassiev and David Benavidez have trained in the same Big Bear gym as unbeaten middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin, but while Golovkin has the year’s most important fight on his schedule, his unbeaten peers function with far lower profiles.
The new World Boxing Super Series is seeking to do something about that, announcing Tuesday that it will stage eight-fighter tournaments in the cruiserweight and super-middleweight divisions.
Veteran Los Angeles-based fight promoter Richard Schaefer, who is helping to organize the tournament, which is targeting a September start, said the process to begin signing up fighters should begin by next week, with the participants announced by the first week of July.
“Anything being done to put more money in my fighters’ pockets is something I support,” said Gassiev’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, who will also prepare Golovkin for his major Sept. 16 title defense against Canelo Alvarez.
In addition to Gassiev, Schaefer said unbeaten Cuban Yunier Dorticos has expressed interest in participating, and unbeaten World Boxing Organization champion Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine is also being eyed.
“Cruiserweight is the most exciting weight class in boxing with the power of these big, devastating boys,” Schaefer said. “It seems like cruiserweights always have exciting fights, and if you look at the history of the division, you see Evander Holyfield or David Haye, champions who move up and challenge for the heavyweight title. That will fit right in to the excitement around the heavyweight division right now.”
Former World Boxing Council cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew beat Haye in a heavyweight bout in March, and Bellew told The Times in an interview last month in London that he wasn’t likely to participate in the tournament.
“I’m already the best,” Bellew (29-2-1, 19 knockouts) said.
The 23-year-old Gassiev (24-0, 17 KOs), referred to as “the cruiserweight Triple-G” in Sanchez’s Summit Gym, could claim the title should he opt to compete and win.
The tournament invites champions and top-15-rated fighters from each sanctioning body, whittling down the candidates and affording outsiders the chance to substitute should an injury occur.
In super-middleweight, the champions include England’s James DeGale and Mexico’s Gilberto Ramirez, with England’s Callum Smith the No. 1 contender for the vacant WBC belt. Benavidez and former champion George Groves are also in the field.
With Showtime interested in televising the action, Schaefer said he’s hopeful the tournament concept – with a pool of $50 million in prize money -- can help ease the divisiveness among rival promoters that permeates the sport.
“The idea with the tournament is to better introduce fighters and divisions that haven’t had the attention they deserve.… This is not about excluding [Bob Arum’s] Top Rank or [Schaefer’s former company] Golden Boy. It’s being put together by the people who stage soccer. I don’t have a voice on who’s in or out. I just help promote the events in the U.S. If Gilberto Ramirez fights, I’m not involved in Gilberto. He’ll continue to be a Top Rank fighter.”
Twitter: @latimespugmire
Get our high school sports newsletter
Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
