Half of the eight-man field for the World Boxing Super Series' upcoming junior welterweight tournament has been announced.
In the last few days, a number of names, previously reported to have signed on to partake in the tournament, were officially announced. Those names were WBA champion Kiryl Relikh, Anthony Yigit and Ivan Baranchyk. With the IBF title vacant due to former champion Mikey Garcia relinquishing the belt to keep fighting as the WBC lightweight champion, the IBF ordered Yigit and Baranchyk to fight for the title.
With both men entering the tournament, tournament organizers announced that Yigit and Baranchyk will fight each other in the quarterfinals for the IBF title.
Two other names were announced to also fight in the tournament that was less of a guarantee than the three previous names: Josh Taylor. Taylor is coming off a win over former world champion Viktor Postol in late June to not only win the WBC Silver title, but become the mandatory challenger to Jose Ramirez’s WBC world title. Taylor will likely not get his chance to fight Ramirez any time soon since it is expected that Ramirez will not be in the tournament.
The fifth name to be added to the tournament is Eduard Troyanovski. Troyanovski is the mandatory challenger to Relikh’s WBA title and just like with Baranchyk and Yigit fighting for the IBF title in the quarterfinals, Troyanovski will fight Relikh for the WBA world title in the quarterfinals.
There has been other names heavily reported to participate in the tournament, including WBO champion Maurice Hooker and interim WBC champion Regis Prograis.
Neither of those names have officially been announced and Hooker told Fightful that although he was offered a spot in the tournament, he has not accepted the invitation yet, denying reports that he is already in the tournament. Hooker said he is still exploring his options and would come to a decision soon.
