By Miguel Rivera
The World Boxing Super Series is approaching their semi-finals - with some mouth-watering fights on the horizon in the first quarter of the new year.
At the moment, there are two ongoing tournaments - at super middleweight and cruiserweight.
But in 2018, promoter Richard Schaefer of Ringstar Sports is hope to direct the tournament focus to the smaller divisions.
Schaefer, who is one of the executives involved in organizing the tournaments, indicates that he and his partners are interested in looking for talent between 118 and 126 pounds to be able to move the market, with a real emphasis on the abundance of Mexican and Latino fighters in the weight classes.
"The Word Boxing Series has been fantastic and has had a very positive impact on the boxing world, in particular the cruiseweight tournament with all four world champions has been historic, it should definitely be the biggest boxing tournament of all time and more than adequate to give recognition to the greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali," said Schaefer to ESPN Deportes.
For the next year, he said the WBSS will look to sign up smaller fighters.
"We will be completely looking to make a tournament in the smaller divisions, season two would be 118, 122 or 126. I'm sure there will be many Mexicans and other Latino fighters who will be invited to participate," Schaefer revealed.
"Many of the fighters [in the ongoing tournaments] have been from Europe because at cruiserweight that's where the best fighters are (Ukraine, Russia, Poland and Latvia), as well as two Cubans. Super middleweight is also strong in Europe, particularly with George Groves and Chris Eubank. they will face each other in the semi-final in January, which will undoubtedly be an event that will eclipse the world."
Currently in the WBSS semi-finals, Chris Eubank and George Groves will collide on one super middleweight end, while Callum Smith faces Jurgen Braehmer in the other. On the cruiserweight front, Oleksandr Usyk and Mairis Briedis will collide in a semifinal clash, while Yuniel Dorticos will face Murat Gassiev in the other.
