Super Six World Boxing Classic - The Super Middleweights

[HS Press]

SHOWTIME Sports® To Present Arthur Abraham, Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Jermain Taylor and Andre Ward In Ground-Breaking Super Middleweight Tournament

SUPER SIX WORLD BOXING CLASSIC
– The Super Middleweights –

NEW YORK (July 13, 2009)—SHOWTIME Sports and six of the best super middleweight boxers in the world converged in New York City on Monday to announce an unprecedented new boxing tournament to be presented by SHOWTIME in the United States and throughout the world on various television networks.

The inaugural Super Six World Boxing Classic is a round-robin, six-fighter tournament featuring the class of the Super Middleweight division from home and abroad.

The world renowned fighters have a staggering combined record of 161-4-1 with 117 knockouts. There are four undefeated fighters, two current world champions, two young, unbeaten, world-ranked contenders and one former undisputed world titleholder.

The field is comprised of International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (30-0, 24 KOs), of Germany, who will move up to challenge at 168, U.S. Olympic medalist and top-ranked contender Andre “The Matrix” Dirrell (18-0, 13 KOs) of Flint, Mich., World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra’’ Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) of England, World Boxing Association (WBA) 168-pound champion Mikkel “Viking Warrior’’ Kessler (41-1, 31 KOs) of Denmark, former undisputed 160-pound world champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KOs) of Little Rock, Ark., and U.S. Olympic gold medalist and No. 1-ranked contender Andre “S.O.G.’’ Ward (19-0, 12 KOs) of Oakland, Calif.

“The stars have truly aligned,” said Ken Hershman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports, who was instrumental in pulling the fighters, managers and promoters together. “It began as an intriguing concept, and through a tremendous amount of hard work on everyone’s part, we are going to pull off one of the most exciting events in boxing history.

“The 168-pound division is the most talent rich in boxing right now. And the Super Six tournament structure will deliver one compelling matchup after another. And to deliver all of this directly to our subscribers on SHOWTIME is a fight fans dream come true. I can’t wait to get started.”

In another unprecedented occurrence, five of the world’s top boxing promoters have collaborated with SHOWTIME Sports to facilitate this epic tournament. Lou DiBella of DiBella Entertainment, Dan Goossen of Goossen Tutor Promotions, Mick Hennessy of Hennessy Sports, Wilfried and Kalle Sauerland of Sauerland Event, and Gary Shaw of Gary Shaw Productions, LLC will promote the tournament which begins in October 2009 and runs through spring 2011.

The dangerous and talented six fighters have signed on to fight any, and potentially all, of the five other contestants in the tournament. All bouts will be scheduled for 12 rounds. Froch’s WBC title and Kessler’s WBA championship will be on the line at the start of tournament competition.

In the first three Group Stages of the tournament, each fighter faces three different opponents over the next 12 months in a points-based competition.

Scoring will be as follows:
Win – 2 points (with a 1-point KO/TKO bonus)
Draw – 1 point
Loss – 0 points

Based on the point standings after the third Group Stage, the top four point scorers will advance to the Semi-Finals with the lowest two being eliminated. (In the event of a tie on points, a tie-break mechanism is in place)

The Semi-Finals will match the point leader against the fourth place fighter and the second versus the third. (In the event of a draw in the Semi-Final bouts, a tie-break mechanism is in place)

The winners of the respective Semi-Final bouts will advance to the Final, which will be contested in early 2011 for the inaugural Super Six World Boxing Classic trophy.

Fights will be contested on both American and European continents. Dates and venues will be announced in the coming weeks. Group Stage 1 matchups are as follows:

GROUP STAGE 1

CARL FROCH vs. ANDRE DIRRELL (for WBC World Championship)
JERMAIN TAYLOR vs. ARTHUR ABRAHAM
MIKKEL KESSLER vs. ANDRE WARD (for WBA World Championship)

Group Stage 2 and 3 matchups will be announced.

For information on all SHOWTIME Sports telecasts, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries from its events and complete information on the Super Six World Boxing Classic, please visit the website at http://www.sports.sho.com

CHECK OUT http://WWW.HENNESSYSPORTS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION




About Showtime Networks Inc.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.

[Bomber 1]

The people who made this happen deserve an awful lot of credit!!

Good Luck to Carl Froch!! If he wins this it'll be one of the biggest things ever achieved by a British fighter!!

[sweetscience]

is this going to be live on UK TV ?

[whiskey]

Rumour is, that ITV are actually devising a pay-per-view channel and this may be on there.

Also that showtime are doing a 24/7 style TV program too with all the fighters featured.

[Bomber 1]

Rumour is, that ITV are actually devising a pay-per-view channel and this may be on there.

Good luck to them it just means the boxer will get paid properly for taking the risk!!

[damianhucker1]

COME ON , GET THE TICKETS ON SALE , NOW

[lefthook82]

so let me get this straight. If Dirrell get splattered against Froch he gets to rebound by getting pummelled by Kesler, etc instead of a confidence builder against a gatekeeperish opponent

I'm happy its been announced but I'll be even happier when it finished so that we can see that it has happened without incident

[ArtOfWar]

It's tough to pick a winner out of those guy's, really tough. I'm thinking Andre Ward could spring an upset.

[bennie]

Just call it a great unification series. "The Super Six" is cheesy.

[Wales]

Its brilliant, doff my cap to showtime so I do

[Ted]

SHOWTIME Sports® To Present Arthur Abraham, Andre Dirrell, Carl Froch, Mikkel Kessler, Jermain Taylor and Andre Ward In Ground-Breaking Super Middleweight Tournament

SUPER SIX WORLD BOXING CLASSIC
– The Super Middleweights –

NEW YORK (July 13, 2009)—SHOWTIME Sports and six of the best super middleweight boxers in the world converged in New York City on Monday to announce an unprecedented new boxing tournament to be presented by SHOWTIME in the United States and throughout the world on various television networks.

The inaugural Super Six World Boxing Classic is a round-robin, six-fighter tournament featuring the class of the Super Middleweight division from home and abroad.

The world renowned fighters have a staggering combined record of 161-4-1 with 117 knockouts. There are four undefeated fighters, two current world champions, two young, unbeaten, world-ranked contenders and one former undisputed world titleholder.

The field is comprised of International Boxing Federation (IBF) middleweight champion Arthur Abraham (30-0, 24 KOs), of Germany, who will move up to challenge at 168, U.S. Olympic medalist and top-ranked contender Andre “The Matrix” Dirrell (18-0, 13 KOs) of Flint, Mich., World Boxing Council (WBC) super middleweight champion Carl “The Cobra’’ Froch (25-0, 20 KOs) of England, World Boxing Association (WBA) 168-pound champion Mikkel “Viking Warrior’’ Kessler (41-1, 31 KOs) of Denmark, former undisputed 160-pound world champion Jermain “Bad Intentions” Taylor (28-3-1, 17 KOs) of Little Rock, Ark., and U.S. Olympic gold medalist and No. 1-ranked contender Andre “S.O.G.’’ Ward (19-0, 12 KOs) of Oakland, Calif.

“The stars have truly aligned,” said Ken Hershman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, SHOWTIME Sports, who was instrumental in pulling the fighters, managers and promoters together. “It began as an intriguing concept, and through a tremendous amount of hard work on everyone’s part, we are going to pull off one of the most exciting events in boxing history.

“The 168-pound division is the most talent rich in boxing right now. And the Super Six tournament structure will deliver one compelling matchup after another. And to deliver all of this directly to our subscribers on SHOWTIME is a fight fans dream come true. I can’t wait to get started.”

In another unprecedented occurrence, five of the world’s top boxing promoters have collaborated with SHOWTIME Sports to facilitate this epic tournament. Lou DiBella of DiBella Entertainment, Dan Goossen of Goossen Tutor Promotions, Mick Hennessy of Hennessy Sports, Wilfried and Kalle Sauerland of Sauerland Event, and Gary Shaw of Gary Shaw Productions, LLC will promote the tournament which begins in October 2009 and runs through spring 2011.

The dangerous and talented six fighters have signed on to fight any, and potentially all, of the five other contestants in the tournament. All bouts will be scheduled for 12 rounds. Froch’s WBC title and Kessler’s WBA championship will be on the line at the start of tournament competition.

In the first three Group Stages of the tournament, each fighter faces three different opponents over the next 12 months in a points-based competition.

Scoring will be as follows:
Win – 2 points (with a 1-point KO/TKO bonus)
Draw – 1 point
Loss – 0 points

Based on the point standings after the third Group Stage, the top four point scorers will advance to the Semi-Finals with the lowest two being eliminated. (In the event of a tie on points, a tie-break mechanism is in place)

The Semi-Finals will match the point leader against the fourth place fighter and the second versus the third. (In the event of a draw in the Semi-Final bouts, a tie-break mechanism is in place)

The winners of the respective Semi-Final bouts will advance to the Final, which will be contested in early 2011 for the inaugural Super Six World Boxing Classic trophy.

Fights will be contested on both American and European continents. Dates and venues will be announced in the coming weeks. Group Stage 1 matchups are as follows:

GROUP STAGE 1

CARL FROCH vs. ANDRE DIRRELL (for WBC World Championship)
JERMAIN TAYLOR vs. ARTHUR ABRAHAM
MIKKEL KESSLER vs. ANDRE WARD (for WBA World Championship)

Group Stage 2 and 3 matchups will be announced.

For information on all SHOWTIME Sports telecasts, including exclusive behind-the-scenes video and photo galleries from its events and complete information on the Super Six World Boxing Classic, please visit the website at http://www.sports.sho.com

CHECK OUT http://WWW.HENNESSYSPORTS.COM FOR MORE INFORMATION




About Showtime Networks Inc.
Showtime Networks Inc. (SNI), a wholly-owned subsidiary of CBS Corporation, owns and operates the premium television networks SHOWTIME®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL® and FLIX®, as well as the multiplex channels SHOWTIME 2™, SHOWTIME® SHOWCASE, SHOWTIME EXTREME®, SHOWTIME BEYOND®, SHOWTIME NEXT®, SHOWTIME WOMEN®, SHOWTIME FAMILY ZONE® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ XTRA. SNI also offers SHOWTIME HD®, THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ HD, SHOWTIME ON DEMAND® and THE MOVIE CHANNEL™ ON DEMAND. SNI also manages Smithsonian Networks, a joint venture between SNI and the Smithsonian Institution. All SNI feeds provide enhanced sound using Dolby Digital 5.1. SNI markets and distributes sports and entertainment events for exhibition to subscribers on a pay-per-view basis through SHOWTIME PPV®.

HEY THIS SOUNDS A LITTLE BIT LIKE THIS:
http://forum.boxrec.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=105032

POSTED THE DAY BEFORE, ALTHOUGH I ADMIT THAT ORGANISING ALL THIS AND A PHOTOSHOOT WITH KESSLER, FROCH AND ABRAHAM IN ONE DAY IS AMAZING!

[Coco]

Could be the best thing to happen to boxing in a while, in times of financial crisis TV companies are at last demanding value for money, if it generates enough cash it may be the signs of things to come

[El Raincoat]

It was roumoured they were going to do a Press conferance in Britain with all the fighters. Has anyone heard anything about this?

[gunners9191]

Hopefully they can do this in some different divisions, maybe the welterweights wow that would be good.
Cotto
mayweather
Pacquiao
berto
mosley
Margarito

Mosley vs pacquiao
cotto vs mayweather
berto vs margarito

[Eraserhead]

Hopefully they can do this in some different divisions, maybe the welterweights wow that would be good.
Cotto
mayweather
Pacquiao
berto
mosley
Margarito

Mosley vs pacquiao
cotto vs mayweather
berto vs margarito

That would be brilliant, but also near impossible to put together.

I think the beauty of this super-middle tourney (and the reason it seems to be green lit) is that you have three Euro guys looking to prove themselves in the US and three US guys looking for fights and some kind of profile. Dirrell and Ward are casino-level fighters (in terms of profile) with little star appeal yet. Jermain Taylor is a former champ in no man's land, thanks to Frochy. Abraham and Kessler can only keep dusting off sub-par comp in Europe for so long. And Froch is a hard bastard without a TV deal.

It's the perfect tournament involving the perfect kind of fighters at the perfect time. I don't think you could just assume it happens in every division.

[Autobarn]

WBC are supportive of this tournament. they won't interrupt the tournament insisting on this or that mandatory. kessler just has to get his WBA mandatory out of the way.