Schaefer launches Super Series

[boxing_rocks]

https://www.boxing247.com/boxing-news/w ... ries/71289

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Hard to hate that. 3 fights in 8 months is ambitious by today's standards. Hopefully that amount of money will keep alphabet bs from keeping top guys out of it.

[TheGingerBomber]

Be very nice indeed to see this become a success. If it's super welter and cruiser there'll be some interesting match-ups.

[boxing_rocks]

I am wondering which weight classes can produce 8 top boxers who will be able to fight each other and not have promotional or network obstacles.

[Badhusker]

Without knowing the weights it is hard to get excited about.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I am wondering which weight classes can produce 8 top boxers who will be able to fight each other and not have promotional or network obstacles.

Schaefer is tight with Haymon, so the PBC should be involved. My worry would be mandatories and what not getting in the way. Every fight will have over a million for each fighter so maybe some guys will drop belts.

[sweetviolenturge]

Hopefully one of the initial weight classes will be heavyweight. I think they'd be foolish not to do so because a heavyweight Grand Prix-type of tournament would guarantee the most interest.
Now, finding 8 world class heavyweights that don't have world titles & aren't hampered by promotional ties elsewhere may prove to be a problem. But, the good news is that by the time this "Super Series" is scheduled to take place the current logjam of scheduled title fights should be over. So we'll have the winners of Joshua-Klitschko, Parker-H.Fury & Briggs-Oquendo settled. Not that I would expect any of them to participate in this tourney. And I doubt that Matchroom would want Ortiz involved since he's bound to be the mandatory challenger for one or more of the titles.
So, while I can't say for sure, maybe there will be some surprise entries, what I would expect to see are some of the younger, up & coming guys to take part. Fighters that are looking for a platform with which to showcase themselves. Fighters like: Dominic Breazeale, Andy Ruiz Jr., "Baby" Miller, maybe an Andrey Fedosov, some Europeans like Christian Hammer, Chisora, Adrian Granat, Takam, Tom Schwarz & maybe even an Asian entry like Jun-Long Zhang or Kyotaro Fujimoto.
There are plenty to choose from & a tourney like this could go a long way toward producing another top contender. The potential for it is there anyhow & even if it doesn't achieve that accomplishment at least we'll get to see some international talent & ( hopefully ) see some fun fights along the way to the final.

[Badhusker]

Without knowing the weights it is hard to get excited about.

It's really pretty vague still. 14 fights the first year, so will they get to split the $50 million somehow, or will that be spread out during year two also? Top 15 in the ABC's doesn't ensure the top guys will participate. Can anyone imagine someone like Canelo will participate? I won't hold my breath on the success of this one. Nice idea.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

Without knowing the weights it is hard to get excited about.

It's really pretty vague still. 14 fights the first year, so will they get to split the $50 million somehow, or will that be spread out during year two also? Top 15 in the ABC's doesn't ensure the top guys will participate. Can anyone imagine someone like Canelo will participate? I won't hold my breath on the success of this one. Nice idea.

The 50 million is for the 14 fights. There will be win bonuses and obviously the winner will make the most. It's more money than wilder makes. It's boxing so I'm not going to do cartwheels, but this could be really good. Canelo may run out of ways to duck ggg and sign up at 54.

[chinarich]

Whilst this is a nice idea, remember how the Super Six was plagued by withdrawals / replacements and then pretty much meandered to a predictable conclusion? If this does end up happening - of which I'm not convinced - then I think it will probably be rather underwhelming and won't contain the absolute cream of either weight class...

[Asterix]

Whilst this is a nice idea, remember how the Super Six was plagued by withdrawals / replacements and then pretty much meandered to a predictable conclusion? If this does end up happening - of which I'm not convinced - then I think it will probably be rather underwhelming and won't contain the absolute cream of either weight class...

I'm with you. A tournament series is not a good idea. It's the individual fights that matter.

[Enlightened-One]

I have to assume that Richard Schaefer’s close ties with Al Haymon and Kalle Sauerland’s relationship with Eddie Hearn will determine the main promoters and fighters involved in this tournament, which will likely result in the exclusion of the likes of Qúeensbúry, Roc Nation, Main Events, Golden Boy Promotions and possibly any fighter exclusively tied to any TV network not covering this event.

HBO don’t have a boxing budget, so I suspect that they won’t cover this event, which will mean that Sergey Kovalev and Gennady Golovkin won’t be able to participate (since they’re tied to exclusive contracts with HBO). I also doubt that Box-Nation will be able to cover this event, due to Hearn-Wárrén’s frosty relationship, which means that we shouldn't expect to see the likes of Tyson Fury, Hughie Fury, Billy Joe Saunders and Terry Flanagan either.

So this tournament might not result in the the delivery of all big fights that fans have been yearning to see, due to boxing’s political landscape, but regardless… a $50m tournament will still be a lot of fun to watch and the winner of each series is likely to be universally-regarded as the number one in their weight class, which can only be a good thing.

So I wholeheartedly support the idea of this tournament and I hope it ends-up being a huge success!

[caldo2025]

I absolutely love it. Not sure if anyone remembers The Fighter series that SRL and Sly Stallone put on but that was so well done. Basically, it's the same thing but with top 15 ranked boxers which sounds amazing. It will be interesting to see which boxers will agree to it. All that it takes is for one or two big names to join and this thing could be a hit and make others decide to join.

Wouldn't it be something if this became the new format of the sport? Think about the great fights fans would get to see. I hope this goes off without a hitch.

[keirw]

I have to assume that Richard Schaefer’s close ties with Al Haymon and Kalle Sauerland’s relationship with Eddie Hearn will determine the main promoters and fighters involved in this tournament, which will likely result in the exclusion of the likes of Qúeensbúry, Roc Nation, Main Events, Golden Boy Promotions and possibly any fighter exclusively tied to any TV network not covering this event.

HBO don’t have a boxing budget, so I suspect that they won’t cover this event, which will mean that Sergey Kovalev and Gennady Golovkin won’t be able to participate (since they’re tied to exclusive contracts with HBO). I also doubt that Box-Nation will be able to cover this event, due to Hearn-Wárrén’s frosty relationship, which means that we shouldn't expect to see the likes of Tyson Fury, Hughie Fury, Billy Joe Saunders and Terry Flanagan either.

So this tournament might not result in the the delivery of all big fights that fans have been yearning to see, due to boxing’s political landscape, but regardless… a $50m tournament will still be a lot of fun to watch and the winner of each series is likely to be universally-regarded as the number one in their weight class, which can only be a good thing.

So I wholeheartedly support the idea of this tournament and I hope it ends-up being a huge success!

Possibly, also WADA is a swear word in Russia these days so Rabinsky's boys will likely be out of the picture also.

Hopefully the large sums of money being discussed will help encourage promoters and networks work together more than usual.

[Asterix]

I absolutely love it. Not sure if anyone remembers The Fighter series that SRL and Sly Stallone put on but that was so well done. Basically, it's the same thing but with top 15 ranked boxers which sounds amazing. It will be interesting to see which boxers will agree to it. All that it takes is for one or two big names to join and this thing could be a hit and make others decide to join.

Wouldn't it be something if this became the new format of the sport? Think about the great fights fans would get to see. I hope this goes off without a hitch.

'The Contender'? It doesn't sound like that, from what I read in the article. It sounds more like 'Super Six', which was a nice idea that ultimately failed to capture peoples' attention.

[candyslim]

I must confess I can't see this working as smoothly as they appear to foresee for reasons discussed above. I'm talking about recruiting the best in the weight class.

There again, even it does fall short of their expectations in this respect, it (the project) can't possibly be a bad thing can it?

[boxing_rocks]

Hopefully, it could at least help determine best contenders.

[jujigatame]

I like the tournament format, hopefully they get higher-caliber fighters than that Boxcino tournament series did.

[montrealsuper]

Sounds like another Al Haymon in house boxing league where great fighters not controlled by the organizers are strictly prohibited. Yes, we know Schaefer is an Al Haymon puppet.

[SaadOffTheDeck]

I like the tournament format, hopefully they get higher-caliber fighters than that Boxcino tournament series did.

They're certainly not going to pay fringe contenders millions. You have to think this will be a lot of ppv.

[TheGingerBomber]

I like the idea of finding the Ring Magazine's top 8 fighters at super welterweight (one of the rumoured weights) and offering them all this opportunity. I don't know how it would work, whether champs would be eligible or not (can't imagine them not being eligible), but whoever doesn't fancy it can do their own thing and give the next rated fighter the opportunity. It'll only take up a year of your career so it's not too bad.

Would it be as simple as getting them signed to contracts and giving each fighter a number, and then having a televised draw to determine who fights who? Or would it be 1 vs 5, 2 vs 6 etc...?

I reckon propsosals for KO bonuses and Fight of the Series bonuses would be good too. I find it all intriguing.

[LasPalmas]

I think this can be great, and will also help determine who really wants I fight for glory and legacy, not just money. Any boxer with a decent mentality will surely want to win a prize named in honour of TBE. I think for it to work they will have to pay some a couple of guys to be on standbye and in good shape for replacements, and maybe if they don't get to fight that year get gaurenteed entry the following year. I would love if this is the start of the end of the belt bullshit

[sweetviolenturge]

I absolutely love it. Not sure if anyone remembers The Fighter series that SRL and Sly Stallone put on but that was so well done. Basically, it's the same thing but with top 15 ranked boxers which sounds amazing. It will be interesting to see which boxers will agree to it. All that it takes is for one or two big names to join and this thing could be a hit and make others decide to join.

Wouldn't it be something if this became the new format of the sport? Think about the great fights fans would get to see. I hope this goes off without a hitch.

'The Contender'? It doesn't sound like that, from what I read in the article. It sounds more like 'Super Six', which was a nice idea that ultimately failed to capture peoples' attention.

Which article(s) did you read?
I'm asking because in the reports that I read the set up was set to be 8 fighters per division in single elimination bouts. That's the sort of tourney that works best IMO. I didn't at all like the format of Showtime's 'Super Six'. We got more fights from it, but it was sort of convoluted. I prefer win you're in, lose you're out.

[sweetviolenturge]

But then, I'm a sucker for 8 man elimination tournaments & have been since first reading about the WBA's 1968 heavyweight tournament as a young 14-year-old, fledgling , which from that point on has always fascinated me.
Then, in 1980 I finally got a series of tournaments that I could follow from the start in the old ESPN tournaments to crown network champions. Those were pretty damn entertaining & produced some legitimate contenders.
So, I hope this isn't just BS & that this outfit will actually be able to get them off the ground.

[Enlightened-One]

I like the tournament format, hopefully they get higher-caliber fighters than that Boxcino tournament series did.

They're certainly not going to pay fringe contenders millions. You have to think this will be a lot of ppv.

You can't assume that.