By Elliot Foster
Kalle Sauerland has informed Boxing Scene of a date for the diary of a number of British fight fans.
The chief boxing officer of the World Boxing Super Series, who is one half of Team Sauerland along with his brother Nisse, recently revealed the date and venue for the final of the Ali Trophy tournament in the super-middleweight division.
The cruiserweight final of the World Boxing Super Series is set for May 11 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with Oleksandr Usyk taking on Murat Gassiev for all four –– WBA Super, IBF, WBO and WBC –– belts in the 200-pound division as well as the coveted vacant Ring Magazine trinket.
But we are still yet to find out the identity of the finalists in the 168lb class.
George Groves defends his WBA Super title at super-middleweight in the first semi-final of the tournament on Saturday (February 17), exclusively live on ITV Box Office in the UK, priced at £16.95, when he takes on IBO champion Chris Eubank Jr. at Manchester Arena.
And the winner of that fight will then be back in the ring at the O2 Arena on June 2 in the final of the super-middleweight WBSS tournament.
Callum Smith, who defends his WBC Diamond super-middleweight crown against Juergen Braehmer, will box on February 24 at the Arena Nürnberger Versicherung in Nürnberg, Germany.
The Smith-Braehmer winner will then take on either Groves or Eubank, depending on who wins on February 17, for the greatest prize in boxing, the Muhammad Ali Trophy, as well as for the WBC Diamond, IBO and WBA Super world titles.
Further details will be revealed in due course.