World Boxing Super Series Season 2 Review

World Boxing Super Series Season 2 Review:

By Richard Lewis

With the final of the Cruiserweight tournament between Murat Gassiev and Oleksander Usyk due to take place this weekend in Moscow, with history set to be made with the winner set to unify the division, as well as the forthcoming Super-Middleweight final between Brits George Groves and Callum Smith to be announced in the near future it’s hard to see how the Sauerland brothers could better that in their promotion of the second run of World Boxing Super Series tournaments.

But they’ve done just that and more with the announcement of the finalised line-ups in both the Bantamweight and Light-Welterweight (Super-Lightweight) competitions.

Making up the Bantamweight tournament is the undefeated WBA Super Champion and surely one of the pre tournament favourites in tough Northern Irishman Ryan Burnett.

Joining him are fellow world champions Emmanuel Rodriguez who holds the IBF strap, that was vacated by Burnett, beating Paul Butler by a wide points victory. Add to them the popular South African and adopted Brit Zolani Tete, who has twice defended the WBO title he won just over a year ago, including a famous victory that entered him into the record books as he dispatched of Siboniso Gonya in just 11 seconds, and it’s easy to see why his inclusion has added excitement and intrigue too. Japanese power puncher Naoya Inoue the WBA regular title holder, having recently beaten Jamie McDonnell in a round, taking his title in the process and makes up the list of current holders of world titles or versions of it at this weight category.

The other four are just as impressive though with former world title holder Juan Carlos Payano added to the group. Payano a former unified WBA Super and IBO Bantamweight Champion, who’s only loss came to Rau’shee Warren in 2016 could well be the dark horse of this competition and one many will want to avoid.

Filipino legend and four-weight world champion the veteran Nonito Donaire adds to the stellar line-up, having previously held the WBC and WBO straps at this weight, though last time out was soundly beaten by Carl Frampton over 12 rounds up at Featherweight.

Making up the final two places are the undefeated duo of Australian Jason Moloney, the current Commonwealth and WBO Oceania title holder, and the highly rated former amateur star and London 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist Russian Mikhail Aloyan. It’s really hard not to get excited about this weight category’s tournament and it could be questioned if it could be bettered but the Light-Welterweights have given it a good go with their participants.

Moving on to them they’ve enlisted WBA Super World Champ the tough Kiryl Relikh. Undefeated European Champion and no.3 ranked IBF mandatory challenger Anthony Yigit as well as his potential next opponent ranked no.4 by the IBF Ivan Baranchyk. The interim WBC champion and much fancied American puncher Regis Prograis will go in as one of the favourites and he is joined by the WBC mandatory challenger the ‘Tartan Tornado’ Josh Taylor who comes in off an excellent win over the tough Viktor Postol, and what a fight this would be if both men squared off in the quarter finals.

Add to them the former IBF and IBO world champion and current mandatory challenger for the WBA title the Russian veteran Eduard Troyanovsky enters into the competition as a very dangerous prospect and another who the seeded Boxers may want to avoid. Completing the line-up is the undefeated American challenger Ryan Martin and one of my personal favourites the former WBO World Lightweight Champion ‘Turbo’ Terry Flanagan. He narrowly lost on the scorecards in his last fight to Maurice Hooker in pursuit of world titles at a second weight class, but his experience and ability will surely take him to the latter stages and could well see him the eventual victor which I’m hoping is the case.

With one more weight class tournament to be announced the World Boxing Super Series has been a revelation and I hope is here to stay for many years to come. It’s often been the criticism that many boxers and title holders avoid one another but these tournaments have brought them together and added real excitement to the sport.

Well done to the Sauerlands for making it happen and those involved in promoting and attracting the Boxers to the competition. In all of these tournaments any one of maybe four or five in each weight division are more than capable of winning it outright and lifting the prestigious Muhammad Ali trophy and with the formation of the Bantamweight and Light-Welterweight tournaments it can only go from strength to strength, long may it continue.