•Official Thread•: WBC Welterweight Tournament

[Ruthless-RKO]

Eight World Class Fighters in the welterweight division have been chosen for the inaugural ‘Jose Sulaiman World Invitational’ presented by Evander Holyfield’s The Real Deal Boxing in association with the World Boxing Council. The first round of the single elimination tournament will take place on Friday, April 27 at a location to be announced.

Fighters selected for the tournament include former world title challenger Felix Diaz, (19-2-0, 9 KO’s) of Santo Domingo, D.R., Johannesburg, South African native Chris van Heerden, (25-2-1, 12 KO’s), world ranked contender Fredrick Lawson, (26-1-0, 21 KO’s), from Accra, Ghana and undefeated Russian prospect (Radzhab Butaev, (8-0-0, 6 KO’s)) was replaced by Irish prospect Paddy‘Pat-Man” Gallagher (13-3-0, 8 KO’s).

Also included are Brad Solomon, (27-1-0, 9 KO’s), of Douglasville, Georgia, Timo Schwarzkopf, (18-1-0, 10 KO’s), of Stuttgart, Germany, Derrieck Cuevas, (16-0-1, 13 KO’s) of Catano, Puerto Rico, and Baishanbo Nasiyiwula, (13-1-1, 6 KO’s) of Urumqi, China.

Four alternates have also agreed to participate in the case of injury to one of the participants including Mexico’s Mauricio Pintor, (20-3-1, 13 KO’s), Paddy Gallagher, (13-3-0, 8 KO’s) of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Sergiy Lubkovich, (7-0-0, 6 KO’s) of Kostroma, Russia and Francisco Santana, (26-6-1, 12 KO’s) of Santa Barbara, CA.

Boxing fans can vote to decide on the first-round matchups at The Real Deal Boxing website, TheRealDealBoxing.com starting NOW with the voting ending at on Monday, February 26 at 12:00 p.m. ET. First round matchups will be announced at the tournament’s kick-off press conference on Wednesday, February 28.

[Cent0089]

I like this tournament a lot Decent names, without tournament they will be fighting bums. In this way, they will fight each other and we will see who is the real deal. Chris Van Heerden is my pick, despite Felix Diaz will be probably betting favorite to win it all

[Ruthless-RKO]

Olympian Diaz vs. Van Heerden will be the best match up. Diaz was recently fighting at 140.. he's a good boxer.

Good way to get a good ranking with the WBC.

Holyfield should do similar with other divisions. Good way of prospects and contenders fighting each other.

[Lackeos]

It's acceptable. This is the type of tournament I'm always brainstorming, but the cast just seems lackluster when it's someone else's idea.

I'm not super thrilled about Felix Diaz's presence. He's sort of a clear favorite, but he's also 34, and I don't see what the point would be of him winning. I like the inclusion of the younger fighters like Butaev and Schwarzkopf, some of whom already have 1 loss; but I would have preferred that the entire cast be tailored to develop the prospects. Giving Felix Diaz the opportunity to eat a prospect alive is not a good way to bring the young fighter along.

I would've done something more like...
Jose Benavidez vs Samuel Vargas
Alan Sanchez vs Kris George
Alexander Besputin vs Caferino Rodriguez
Amir Imam vs Frederick Lawson
Fewer fighters in their mid 30's. Closer grouping of fighters by ranking. Each half of the bracket has a young undefeated fighter, a young 1-loss fighter, and 2 fighters in their late 20's with a few losses. The younger fighters being slight favorites over the older fighters. Should produce an undefeated 26-year-old with a boxrec ranking of 10 or so.

[Best Coast]

Olympian Diaz vs. Van Heerden will be the best match up. Diaz was recently fighting at 140.. he's a good boxer.

Good way to get a good ranking with the WBC.

Holyfield should do similar with other divisions. Good way of prospects and contenders fighting each other.

Diaz is a natural JW and at age 33 I dont think he will win this tourney.

Most people will call this a long shot but I've got unbeaten Russian Radzhab Butaev, (8-0-0, 6 KO’s) taking this. He's got very solid amateur pedigree (he was just 20 when he won the 2014 Russian National Championships at 152 and he finished 2nd in the 2015 Nationals).

Butaev was only 17 when he won the 2011 Russian National Youth Championships at 123 pounds and won gold on the international level at the 2013 World University Games at 141, where he gained valuable experience on a Russian squad that included Bivol, Tishchenko and Aloyan.

Despite his limited pro experience of just 8 bouts, he has steadily stepped up the caliber of his competition and his latest win in November saw him take an 8-round UD over previously unbeaten Colombian prospect Juner Gonzalez who was 19-0-1 entering the bout.

Assuming these tourney bouts will be 12 rounds like WSSB, Butaev's toughest obstacle will be making the jump from 8-12 rounds and that COULD be a little too much to expect.

[siablo14]

I like it. I like these tournaments that are headed towards a goal.

[Lackeos]

Butaev's toughest obstacle will be making the jump from 8-12 rounds and that COULD be a little too much to expect.

Going from a #160-ranked opponent to a #15-ranked opponent might also be hard. On-balance, Diaz might find it easy to go from a #1-ranked opponent to a #68-ranked opponent.

[Lennox]

Eight World Class Fighters in the welterweight division have been chosen for the inaugural ‘Jose Sulaiman World Invitational’ presented by Evander Holyfield’s The Real Deal Boxing in association with the World Boxing Council. The first round of the single elimination tournament will take place on Friday, April 27 at a location to be announced.

Fighters selected for the tournament include former world title challenger Felix Diaz, (19-2-0, 9 KO’s)RANKED 14 (AT SUPERLIGHT) of Santo Domingo, D.R., Johannesburg, South African native Chris van Heerden, (25-2-1, 12 KO’s)INACTIVE WOULD BE RANKED 36, world ranked contender Fredrick Lawson, (26-1-0, 21 KO’s)RANKED 48, from Accra, Ghana and undefeated Russian prospect Radzhab Butaev, (8-0-0, 6 KO’s)UNRANKED.

Also included are Brad Solomon, (27-1-0, 9 KO’s)INACTIVE WOULD BE RANKED 53, of Douglasville, Georgia, Timo Schwarzkopf, (18-1-0, 10 KO’s)RANKED 37 (AT SUPERLIGHT), of Stuttgart, Germany, Derrieck Cuevas, (16-0-1, 13 KO’s)RANKED 194 of Catano, Puerto Rico, and Baishanbo Nasiyiwula, (13-1-1, 6 KO’s)RANKED 137 of Urumqi, China.

Four alternates have also agreed to participate in the case of injury to one of the participants including Mexico’s Mauricio Pintor, (20-3-1, 13 KO’s), Paddy Gallagher, (13-3-0, 8 KO’s) of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Sergiy Lubkovich, (7-0-0, 6 KO’s) of Kostroma, Russia and Francisco Santana, (26-6-1, 12 KO’s) of Santa Barbara, CA.

Boxing fans can vote to decide on the first-round matchups at The Real Deal Boxing website, TheRealDealBoxing.com starting NOW with the voting ending at on Monday, February 26 at 12:00 p.m. ET. First round matchups will be announced at the tournament’s kick-off press conference on Wednesday, February 28.

YES ITS REALLY GOOD

[Mimmy]

so this is what this is then

[Ruthless-RKO]

so this is what this is then

Yup!

[jamamb]

i like tournaments

a mix of fighters (contender, prospect, tested, unknown) is cool too

[Best Coast]

Butaev's toughest obstacle will be making the jump from 8-12 rounds and that COULD be a little too much to expect.

Going from a #160-ranked opponent to a #15-ranked opponent might also be hard. On-balance, Diaz might find it easy to go from a #1-ranked opponent to a #68-ranked opponent.

Thanks for bringing that up. I always like to make educated predictions and and I was downplaying that factor. So I did a quick check on the ratings:

Diaz > #15 @ 140
Solomon #42 @ 147
Lawson #67 @ 147
Butaev #68 @ 147
Cuevas #134 @ 147
Schwarzkopf #37 @ 140
Nasiyiwula #76 @ 140
Van Heerden Unrated at 147 (Inactive since 10/16)

I have to like Butaev's chances vs everyone besides Diaz & Solomon (and maybe Van Heerden if he's not too rusty). So if Butaev draws one of the others in the opening round I see him advancing with little problem. We already know how political the WBC is, so I would expect the unbeaten Russian more likely to get a favorable matchup in the prelims.

Diaz will probably be the favorite just based on his experience, but I have a suspicion the Crawford beatdown may have taken something out of him. So even if my personal pick Butaev doesnt win the tourney, I have a hard time picking DIaz as the winner.

The only "no-hopers" in this tourney are probably Cuevas, Schwarzkopf & Nasiyiwula.

[northern]

If this comes together and they all stay un-injured for the full length of the tournament, this could if not should be real competition to the current WBSS.

Some good names involved and a few who could surprise a few people along the way as long as it stays competitively matched up.
Looking forward to seeing how it builds up as time goes on.

[Mexi-Box]

Felix Diaz gets overrated because he's arguably Crawford's best name on his resume.

[walter5]

I like how it's called an "Invitational" when all fighters had to apply........

[jamamb]

invited to apply

[Ruthless-RKO]

invited to apply

Obviously..

To be honest When Holyfield first announced it.. I thought it would be all prospect type fighters.. young fighters.. with around 10 fights. A tournament to climb the rankings.. but with Diaz nd Van Heerden.. its not really. The other names are okay..

[jamamb]

i like the mix tbh. always interested when a prospect steps up to more esatblished guys. and tbh van heerden even though hes a vet i dont really consider him all that good, i wouldnt at all be surprised for him to lose clearly to one of these lesser knowns

[Lackeos]

Felix Diaz gets overrated because he's arguably Crawford's best name on his resume.

From this post, it kind of sounds like you don't know anything about boxing. Felix is nowhere close to the best name on Crawford's resume, either in terms of fame or talent. Julius Indongo was a 3-belt world champ and divisionally top 3 at the time of their fight. Viktor Postol was ranked #2 at the time of their fight, coming off a victory against the previous #2. Yuri Gamboa was a highly decorated amateur who reigned for years as a top 4 featherweight and sometimes borderline top 10 p4p fighter with numerous title defenses who achieved a top lightweight ranking going into the Crawford fight. Ricky Burns is a former top 3 lightweight with quite a bit of fame in England and 13 world title fights under his belt. Felix Diaz is arguably not even the best of the rest, or even that close to it.

The reason people rate Felix Diaz well is mostly because he has good wins against Sammy Vasquez, Adrian Granados, Gabriel Bracero, he fought on competitive terms with Lamont Peterson, and he has an Olympic gold medal. The other fighters in this pool, many of whom are not even top 50, pale in comparison.

[Mexi-Box]

Felix Diaz gets overrated because he's arguably Crawford's best name on his resume.

From this post, it kind of sounds like you don't know anything about boxing. Felix is nowhere close to the best name on Crawford's resume, either in terms of fame or talent. Julius Indongo was a 3-belt world champ and divisionally top 3 at the time of their fight. Viktor Postol was ranked #2 at the time of their fight, coming off a victory against the previous #2. Yuri Gamboa was a highly decorated amateur who reigned for years as a top 4 featherweight and sometimes borderline top 10 p4p fighter with numerous title defenses who achieved a top lightweight ranking going into the Crawford fight. Ricky Burns is a former top 3 lightweight with quite a bit of fame in England and 13 world title fights under his belt. Felix Diaz is arguably not even the best of the rest, or even that close to it.

The reason people rate Felix Diaz well is mostly because he has good wins against Sammy Vasquez, Adrian Granados, Gabriel Bracero, he fought on competitive terms with Lamont Peterson, and he has an Olympic gold medal. The other fighters in this pool, many of whom are not even top 50, pale in comparison.

You really are a BoxRec warrior, aren't yah. Yes, Diaz is the best opponent Crawford has faced. Gamboa had looked awful at 135 lbs. and was too small, Postol win is not aging well, Indongo was laughably bad. You naming Ricky Burns just made me burst out laughing.

You just gave me enough reason to know that you don't watch boxing and look at BoxRec all day long to form your opinion. That's laughable. If this was a legit site, you would've been laughed off it a long time ago.

[Lackeos]

Felix Diaz gets overrated because he's arguably Crawford's best name on his resume.

From this post, it kind of sounds like you don't know anything about boxing. Felix is nowhere close to the best name on Crawford's resume, either in terms of fame or talent. Julius Indongo was a 3-belt world champ and divisionally top 3 at the time of their fight. Viktor Postol was ranked #2 at the time of their fight, coming off a victory against the previous #2. Yuri Gamboa was a highly decorated amateur who reigned for years as a top 4 featherweight and sometimes borderline top 10 p4p fighter with numerous title defenses who achieved a top lightweight ranking going into the Crawford fight. Ricky Burns is a former top 3 lightweight with quite a bit of fame in England and 13 world title fights under his belt. Felix Diaz is arguably not even the best of the rest, or even that close to it.

The reason people rate Felix Diaz well is mostly because he has good wins against Sammy Vasquez, Adrian Granados, Gabriel Bracero, he fought on competitive terms with Lamont Peterson, and he has an Olympic gold medal. The other fighters in this pool, many of whom are not even top 50, pale in comparison.

You really are a BoxRec warrior, aren't yah. Yes, Diaz is the best opponent Crawford has faced. Gamboa had looked awful at 135 lbs. and was too small, Postol win is not aging well, Indongo was laughably bad. You naming Ricky Burns just made me burst out laughing.

You just gave me enough reason to know that you don't watch boxing and look at BoxRec all day long to form your opinion. That's laughable. If this was a legit site, you would've been laughed off it a long time ago.

I feel the same way about you.

Not to mention that you went from "Everyone overrated Felix Diaz," to "Felix Diaz is better than Viktor Postol, Julius Indongo, and Yuri Gamboa." That pretty much makes you the #1 example on the entire forum of a poster who overrates Felix Diaz. We're all in here talking about Felix Diaz being #15 in his division, and you're like "No, Felix Diaz is better than fighters who were divisionally ranked #2 and #3 at the time." You're basically the king overrater of Felix Diaz. You don't even have any right to claim that anybody overrates Diaz after that display of hypocrisy.

[Mexi-Box]

From this post, it kind of sounds like you don't know anything about boxing. Felix is nowhere close to the best name on Crawford's resume, either in terms of fame or talent. Julius Indongo was a 3-belt world champ and divisionally top 3 at the time of their fight. Viktor Postol was ranked #2 at the time of their fight, coming off a victory against the previous #2. Yuri Gamboa was a highly decorated amateur who reigned for years as a top 4 featherweight and sometimes borderline top 10 p4p fighter with numerous title defenses who achieved a top lightweight ranking going into the Crawford fight. Ricky Burns is a former top 3 lightweight with quite a bit of fame in England and 13 world title fights under his belt. Felix Diaz is arguably not even the best of the rest, or even that close to it.

The reason people rate Felix Diaz well is mostly because he has good wins against Sammy Vasquez, Adrian Granados, Gabriel Bracero, he fought on competitive terms with Lamont Peterson, and he has an Olympic gold medal. The other fighters in this pool, many of whom are not even top 50, pale in comparison.

You really are a BoxRec warrior, aren't yah. Yes, Diaz is the best opponent Crawford has faced. Gamboa had looked awful at 135 lbs. and was too small, Postol win is not aging well, Indongo was laughably bad. You naming Ricky Burns just made me burst out laughing.

You just gave me enough reason to know that you don't watch boxing and look at BoxRec all day long to form your opinion. That's laughable. If this was a legit site, you would've been laughed off it a long time ago.

I feel the same way about you.

Not to mention that you went from "Everyone overrated Felix Diaz," to "Felix Diaz is better than Viktor Postol, Julius Indongo, and Yuri Gamboa." That pretty much makes you the #1 example on the entire forum of a poster who overrates Felix Diaz. We're all in here talking about Felix Diaz being #15 in his division, and you're like "No, Felix Diaz is better than fighters who were divisionally ranked #2 and #3 at the time." You're basically the king overrater of Felix Diaz. You don't even have any right to claim that anybody overrates Diaz after that display of hypocrisy.

What the hell are you talking about? You do know that LWW was weak as hell when Crawford cleaned it out. And look at you. You're still throwing out BoxRec numbers like a clueless BoxRec warrior. Yes, Diaz is the best name on Crawford's resume because he's a lot more talented than Postol and Indongo. You are the king of being a clueless BoxRec warrior.

You just keep throwing yourself under the bus. This is too easy. Keep watching those BoxRec rankings and sounding clueless for all to see.

[Evander]

Friday April 27 let's see what you got.

[Cent0089]

Fights announced:

https://fightnews.com/wbc-welterweight- ... nced/15524

If all fights will be at one card it would be amazing

[Ruthless-RKO]

Louisville, Kentucky will play host to the first round of the Jose Sulaiman World Invitational Tournament at the KFC YUM! Center on Friday, April 27th.

The matchups for the first round were announced on 1 March.

Over the last ten days boxing fans from around the world have ranked each of the eight welterweights chosen for the tournament which have formulated the first-round matchups. Each fight will be scheduled for ten rounds.

#1 ranked FELIX DIAZ (19-2-0, 9 KO’s) vs. #8 ranked DERRIECK CUEVAS (16-0-1, 13 KO’s)

#2 ranked CHRIS VAN HEERDEN (25-2-1, 12 KO’s) vs. #7 ranked TIMO SCHWARZKOPF (18-1-0, 10 KO’s)

#3 ranked FREDRICK LAWSON (26-1-0, 21 KO’s) vs. #6 ranked BAISHANBO NASIYWULA (13-1-1, 6 KO’s)

#4 ranked RADZHAB BUTAEV (8-0-0, 6 KO’s) vs. #5 ranked BRAD SOLOMON,(27-1-0, 9 KO’s)