WBSS tournament weight #3 to be announced today

[dagilechia]

I hope it's following CW squad: Gassiev, Briedis, Dorticos, Glowacki, Vlasov, Lerena, Masternak, Tabiti (i think he said that he will not participate in this tournament right?) or Lebedev (again, seems impossible to see him in the mix) or Makabu (but i guess the most likely is that they will choose Goulamirian)

[jamamb]

i wonder why tabiti wouldnt participate ? hes not with top rank (they dont let there fighters in) and surely much better money in the wbss then hes making going under the radar in the us

be interesting to see how he matches up with some of the better cruisers

[dagilechia]

I forgot about Shumenov -looks likely that he will be one of the participants - i hope not

[DrDuke]

It's interesting, how it will be with the belts. Usyk is likely to face Bellew at the CW to defend them, then he apparently will move to the HW. This can happen in the process of the tourney.

[dagilechia]

According to some sources, it's almost sure that one of the quarter finals will be Dorticos vs Masternak

[Enlightened-One]

Season two of the WBSS cruiserweight division without Usyk, especially so soon after the final of the first season? Mmmmm... I'm not sure how commercially well such a tournament would fare.

[Ruthless-RKO]

[alex30]

So what belts are they going to be fighting for? Usyk has them all and he won't be participating

[joshj909]

Does anyone know what the cut-off point would be for the fighters to have their last fight prior to the opening round of WBSS? I'd like to see Okolie in the mix but he's scheduled to fight Askin on the AJ/Pov card on 22/9.

Also, i think this is too soon after the last one. The winner won't get the credit as they'll just be second best to Usyk in most people's eyes.

[tiny_acres]

Also, i think this is too soon after the last one. The winner won't get the credit as they'll just be second best to Usyk in most people's eyes.

My thoughts exactly. It's basically a tournament for the number one contender

[Enlightened-One]

If you take a look at the cruiserweight landscape, it’s kind of hard to award any real credibility to those competing in season two of the WBSS tournament, because most of the big names within that division have either been defeated by Oleksandr Usyk or lost to someone the undisputed champion will or has previously beaten already:

• Mairis Briedis - was defeated by Oleksandr Usyk
• Murat Gassiev - was defeated by Oleksandr Usyk
• Krzysztof Glowacki - was defeated by Oleksandr Usyk
• Denis Lebedev - was defeated by Murat Gassiev, who in turn tasted defeat when he faced Oleksandr Usyk
• Yunier Dorticos - was defeated by Murat Gassiev, who in turn tasted defeat when he faced Oleksandr Usyk
• Firat Arslan - was defeated by Marco Huck, who in turn tasted defeat when he faced Oleksandr Usyk
• Krzysztof Wlodarczyk - was defeated by Murat Gassiev, who in turn tasted defeat when he faced Oleksandr Usyk
• Ilunga Makabu - was defeated by Tony Bellew, who in turn will be facing Oleksandr Usyk in November
• Mateusz Masternak - was defeated by Tony Bellew, who in turn will be facing Oleksandr Usyk in November

I’m not too excited to see the following fringe contenders potentially compete in this tournament, even though their resumes don’t have any link to Oleksandr Usyk:

• Andrew Tabiti
• Maksim Vlasov
• Kevin Lerena
• Constantin Bejenaru

[joshj909]

If this is close to correct...

Positives:
Most are ranked in Boxrec top 10
Only 2 (plus Gassiev) of them were in last year's tourny

Negatives:
Undoubtedly some big fights in there if these are right but it would be overshadowed by the huge fights of last season
Only 2 unbeaten.
Not even one of the worthless WBA belts in there.

[gilgamesh]

Don't really see why they'd do one of the same weight classes again when there's 17 weight classes in Boxing.

I assume it's just easier to get the Cruiserweights to sign up for this thing because there's not a lot of blockbuster matchups that ever come down the pipe in that weight class so this is as big an opportunity as you're gonna get fighting at Cruiser really.

[Counter-puncher]

Don't really see why they'd do one of the same weight classes again when there's 17 weight classes in Boxing.

I assume it's just easier to get the Cruiserweights to sign up for this thing because there's not a lot of blockbuster matchups that ever come down the pipe in that weight class so this is as big an opportunity as you're gonna get fighting at Cruiser really.

Agree on both counts

[jamamb]

i still like it, can make a lot of solid matches with those guys and wed get to see how for real some of them are. usyk having already won the first doesnt mean b good fights cant be made at cw anymore

for me its icing on the cake when i thought there were only gonna be 2 wbss

[ewenhay]

Don't really see why they'd do one of the same weight classes again when there's 17 weight classes in Boxing.

I assume it's just easier to get the Cruiserweights to sign up for this thing because there's not a lot of blockbuster matchups that ever come down the pipe in that weight class so this is as big an opportunity as you're gonna get fighting at Cruiser really.

Well said. Seems daft to have another cruiserweight tournament so soon.

Also the belts might not be up for grabs during the tournament which makes it even stranger as one of the biggest attractions of the wbss for me is ending up with an undisputed or at least unified champion

[jamamb]

theyll be plenty of good cruiser matchups im sure, to go with the 2 other divisions , obviously fans have been spoiled i guess

[bury_lad]

If Usyk was unsure whether to go up to HW after Bellew then I’m sure his decision has now been made as there will be no significant opposition left in the division if the top tier are participating in this tournament.
So he’s bound to vacate which will leave all the belts on the line. What better way to distribute them than having a tournament with the best facing the best?

[joshj909]

If Usyk was unsure whether to go up to HW after Bellew then I’m sure his decision has now been made as there will be no significant opposition left in the division if the top tier are participating in this tournament.
So he’s bound to vacate which will leave all the belts on the line. What better way to distribute them than having a tournament with the best facing the best?

That would require a few things. The org's deciding to distribute the belts in time for the quarter finals, agreeing to put them on the line for different fights without squabbling, and put them on the line knowing they will all be unified within a years time. I'm not confident that will happen. Perhaps for a couple, but not for all of them.

I also, don't think that collecting the vacant titles and beating those who just collected them wouldn't look as good as Usyk's run of beating established champions. But that might just be personal preference.

[Enlightened-One]

I can’t imagine Matchroom wanting to cover a Sky Sports Box Office PPV event and allow Tony Bellew to face Oleksandr Usyk at cruiserweight without the Ukraine being in possession of all four of his belts. They have to be on the line.

However, if Oleksandr Usyk does decide to vacate all of his belts (if he faces Bellew at heavyweight instead), then I suspect that the rumoured roster (if the names being mentioned are true) to engage in bouts for the vacant championships to be matched accordingly:

• Mairis Briedis vs. Maksim Vlasov for the WBC title
• Maksim Vlasov vs. Krzysztof Glowacki for the WBA Super title (but I don't know what would happen to the likes of Arsen Goularmirian and Beibut Shumenov)
• Ruslan Fayfer vs. Andrew Tabiti for the IBF title

[dagilechia]

Rumours about matchups:

Briedis Gevor
Vlasov Glowacki
Dorticos Masternak
Tabiti Fayfer

[dagilechia]

IT'S OFFICIAL

Briedis Gevor
Vlasov Glowacki
Dorticos Masternak
Tabiti Fayfer

Then Briedis/Gevor vs Vlasov/Glowacki and Dorticos/Masternak vs Tabiti/Fayfer