By Pablo Fletes and Ludo Saenz
The World Boxing Council (WBC) announced at the 49th Annual convention taking place at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, that next year they plan to launch the World Cup of Boxing in eight different weight categories. The World Cup will jump off in May, culminating in the final stretch of 2012, and the event will coincide with the celebration of the WBC's 50th annual convention, which is scheduled to take place in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico.
"This tournament will last about 40 weeks. We have struck a verbal agreement with U.S. television network and expect the participation of every champion within our WBC confederations, and that includes regional, international and silver champions," explained Jose Sulaiman, the WBC's President.
"This World Cup will be good for everyone, the people in boxing. In my opinion this is one of the largest programs that the WBC has promoted in 50 years. We trust that boxers from 164 countries to participate in the WBC's World Cup, including regional and silver champions."
According to Sulaiman, the WBC would deliver significant prize money to the champions of each division in this World Cup, and the champions of each division could earn up to $250,000 dollars.
"This tournament will begin in the month of May 2012. It will last 40 weeks and we plan to have a night of the World Cup during the week of the 50th anniversary of the WBC. Therefore it is important that every promoter talks to their champions to participate."
Some of the eight divisions include flyweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight and heavyweight.
