World Series Boxing

[locoxelbox]

http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.c ... 980172.cms

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sports/h ... BOXING.asp


World series to revolutionalise boxing
NEW DELHI: The performance of Indian boxers at Beijing Games made them national heroes with the game catching the imagination of youngsters across thBoxers exchanges punches during their fight. (AFP Photo)
e country. Now, the Indian fans will get the opportunity to see some of the top boxers of the world in action at home.

In order to satisfy the ever-growing need of watching knock-outs and to ride the gravy-train of professional boxing, the game’s world amateur body (AIBA) has signed a treaty with marketing firm IMG to introduce ‘World Series Boxing’ from March, 2010 in which Delhi will be one of the 12 teams from across the world that will vie for the title.

In the series, somewhat similar to professional leagues like EPL or IPL, three continents - Asia, Europe and America - will each have four city teams (read countries) participating in the event which will see boxers exchanging blows without headgears and vests, fighting five rounds of three minutes each with five bouts in five categories with home-and-away matches thrown in.

The boxers will stand to make a reasonable amount of money, which was so far unheard of in amateur boxing, and will still be allowed to take part in the Olympics, unlike the professional boxers.

The ‘cities’ will fight among themselves before one qualifies for the grand finale to be held at Macau, which is famous for casinos, much like what Las Vegas is.

"To take Asia’s example, Delhi will first fight Bangkok and then Bangkok will come down to Delhi to fight here. At the end of five bouts, the scores will be counted. Only one country from each continent will be able to go through to the semi-final to be held at Macau. The fourth slot in the semis will go to the ‘best loser’," said PK Muralidharan Raja, secretary of Indian Boxing Association. Raja was part of the AIBA-IMG meeting in China on January 11, which was attended by the amateur heads from all across the world.

The World Series, when it comes into play in 2010, will be a fertile ring for the boxers as well as their respective federations to earn good money now and to sustain the flow when they retire. A franchisee from one continent will be allowed to buy boxers from other countries.

"Let’s say Cuba might be interested in buying Vijender Kumar and Akhil Kumar. Their franchisee will then have to get in touch with the Indian franchisee to sort out money issues in order to buy them. The boxers will themselves have to sign a contract with their respective federations so that a certain percentage of the money that is earned by them will also filter down to the federations," said Raja.

This decision was taken since the federations support a boxer when he goes through his bends. But when the boxer comes through and earns cash benefits, he does not share it with the federation. The World Series will help the federation to make money from the franchisee.

It will also make the boxers participating in the Series more secure as they will get pension after retiring.



Major changes afoot for amateur boxing
...head gear, vests to go; World Series proposed
Courtney Wallace
Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Amateur boxing is about to take a turn which will make it look much like the professional game as the International Boxing Association (AIBA), under president Ching-Kuo Wu, seeks to give the sport a new face internationally.

In order to satisfy the ever-growing need for watching knock-outs and to ride the gravy-train of professional boxing, the AIBA has decided to introduce the 'World Series Boxing' from March, 2010.

In the series, which is somewhat similar to professional leagues like the English Premier League (EPL - football) or Indian Premier League (IPL - cricket), three continents - Asia, Europe and America - will each have four city teams participating in the event which will see boxers exchanging blows without headgear and vests, fighting five rounds of three minutes each with five bouts in five categories with home-and-away matches thrown in.

The boxers will stand to make a reasonable amount of money, which is so far unheard of in amateur boxing, and will still be allowed to take part in the Olympics, unlike the professional boxers.

The 'cities' will fight among themselves before one qualifies for the grand finale to be held at Macau, which is famous for casinos, much like Las Vegas.

"The World Series", when it comes into play in 2010, will be a fertile ring for the boxers as well as their respective federations to earn good money now and sustain the flow when they retire.

A franchisee from one continent will be allowed to buy boxers from other countries, much like under the transfer system in football.

This decision was taken since the federations support a boxer when he goes through his bends. But when the boxer comes through and earns cash benefits, he does not share it with the federation. "The World Series" will help the federation to make money from the franchisee.

It will also make the boxers participating in the series more secure as they will get pension after retiring.

The changes on the horizon naturally raises questions as the AIBA, over time, has always sought to distance itself from the atrocities and bad press of the professional game.

According to Jamaican Leroy Brown, who is general secretary of the world body's Championship Commission and an international technical official, the developments are very positive as other sports have made the move and blurred the lines between the amateur and professional.

"I think it's a very positive reaction and a distinct push from what used to exist. AIBA has always kept a strict distinction between professional and amateur boxing, many other sports made the move and blurred the lines between amateur and professional.

"In track & field, athletes earn millions and still go to the Olympics, same thing with tennis. Boxing is coming in slowly. The previous administration wanted to contact with the pro game.

"Under the new dispensation they are taking slow steps; the first move was last year when they staged the World Cup in Moscow.

"There you had the top eight boxers in each weight category competing for US$20,000, and this will continue. The thing is the buying public seems to think that head gear and vests have a diminishing effect where pro boxing is concerned and where they see the boxer up close and bare chest they get more of the macho image and they get more of a feel for the action and excitement," he said.

Brown added: "As a matter of fact studies are being conducted as to whether amateur boxing should do away with head gear from a medical point of view. There are differences of opinions. Some doctors believe it's good to prevent cuts to the face and head (and) others see it as a problem as it makes the sport dangerous.

"Once those are ironed out we could see in the not too distant future amateur boxing getting rid of head gear; however, for the World Series there will be no head gear and vests which should make the sport more spectator friendly, if they come out enjoy it, there could be bigger purses."
And how will the AIBA ensure that the amateur game does not attract the negative press of the pro game?

According to Brown, "It's gonna be a very delicate act and one can't say what will happen, but they're being very careful and stringent ground rules are being laid out and one has to hope for good administration from the 'get go' to avoid the pitfalls".

Smaller countries like Jamaica cannot hope to benefit immediately from these changes as the structure is essentially construed towards the larger players in the sport.
However, Brown thinks the incentive it will give boxers will allow them to believe they can make a living out of boxing.

[Dennis]

AIBA is trying to do things to make our sport more fan friendly. Getting rid of corruption would help. So would changes to the scoring system as nobody seemed to like the current scoring system as it was applied at the 2008 Olympics.

[boxmel]

...head gear, vests to go;

My understanding is that the IOC told AIBA that, under no circumstances, was amateur boxing to get rid of wearing headgear. Stay tuned.

[rocabye]

so what happen are they going with this series

[Jma05]

im confused. they said that there will be 4 franchises in america...will all be in the usa or will they be in south america. and how many weight classes is there

[boxmel]

I'm sure they mean 4 franchises in "the Americas" - Canada to South.