The World Boxing Super Series has unveiled its first round matches for their upcoming cruiserweight and super middleweight champion.
In its opening gala in Monaco, the organization unveiled the seedings and the tournament brackets for the event. The first round fights are expected to take place sometime in the fall.
Here are the super middleweight matchups. Seedings are in parenthesis:
- (1) George Groves (WBA "super" super middleweight champion) vs. Jamie Cox
- (2) Callum Smith vs. Erik Skoglund
- (3) Chris Eubank Jr./Arthur Abraham winner (IBO super middleweight champion) vs. Avni Yildirim
- (4) Juergen Braehmer vs. Rob Brant
And here are the cruiserweight matchups:
- (1) Oleksandr Usyk (WBO cruiserweight champion) vs. Marco Huck
- (2) Murat Gassiev (IBF cruiserweight champion) vs. Krzysztof Wlodarczyk
- (3) Mairis Briedis (WBC cruiserweight vs. Mike Perez
- (4) Yunier Dorticos (WBA "regular" cruiserweight champion) vs. Dmitry Kudrayshov
Among the 16 fighters competing, six of them are current world titles while Smith and Skoglund will compete for the symbolic WBC diamond belt. Eubank Jr. vs. Abraham will take place on July 15 with the winner facing Yildirim.
While the quarterfinals are expected to take place between September and October, the semifinals are expected to take place in early 2018 and the finals to be held in May 2018. The winner of each will take home the Muhammad Ali Trophy. All 16 fighters will divvy up $50 million for the prize money, about $3.125 million from each fighter. A deal to broadcast the tournament in the United States has yet to be made.
