How the World Boxing Super Series can help restore boxing's integrity with Chris Eubank Jr on course to fight George Groves

The upcoming fight sport crossover spectacle that is Floyd Mayweather taking on UFC star Conor McGregor appears be casting a little doubt over the integrity of professional boxing – an industry that has spent practically its entire existence submerged in one controversy or another.

Flying under the mainstream radar courtesy of that bout in Las Vegas on August 26th is something that could in fact be a huge boost for boxing: a pair of tournaments collectively known as the World Boxing Super Series.

Eight boxers at cruiserweight and eight at super-middleweight will participate in single-elimination brackets, with $50m in prize money and any world titles held by the participants to be on the line in every bout.

In addition to a huge payday and a undisputed champion status in their division, the two winners will receive the Muhammad Ali trophy – in tribute to the greatest boxer of all time, who passed away last year.

At the very least, the WBSS tournaments will give diehard boxing fans the action they feel should be on display week in, week out: a weight class’s top fighters battling in seeded and regulated bouts to determine who is the very best around, and who sits where in the line to challenge them.

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The biggest gripe many have with boxing is the lack of regulation – four major governing bodies control four separate versions of the world title. Other, less recognised bodies also have their own world champions.

Promoters, meanwhile, yield all the power when it comes to matchmaking, meaning less legitimate competitions found in most other sports and more business-orientated events, designed to turn a huge profit and enhance the marketability of their own fighters. Which gives us such polarising attractions as Conor vs Floyd.

If the first two tournaments – expected to begin in September with the finals intended for May, effectively presenting two entire divisions more like a football or rugby season – are a success, there’s a strong chance other divisions will follow.

Heavyweights and welterweights usually have enough money to keep doing what they are doing without such a format, but some of the minimal-weight classes could definitely benefit from the mainstream attention the maiden two tournaments may attract, and they’d certainly have the right work ethic and exciting style to turn heads.

Whichever weight classes may follow suit, if the model is a success and grows, boxing may finally be able to restore some credibility beneath the chair-flinging, profanity-laced personalities who usually stand the best chance of pulling in casual viewers.

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It may also bring some well-deserved recognition to the fighters who graft, but struggle to get tongues wagging about their fights by any means necessary unlike the likes of Mayweather and McGregor.

The draws for the quarter-finals were recently made, with four seeded boxers being allowed to handpick their first opponents. While a peculiar option at first glance over the traditional random draw, there are already signs of it having the desired effect as top seeds tell the media that they picked the opponent they felt would be the easiest night’s work, thus lighting a fire under that opponent and beginning the smack talk to sell these very first tournament bouts.

For fans of British boxing, the super-middleweight tournament will definitely hold more interest. George Groves, who finally won a world title in May, was named top seed and selected fellow Brit and former roommate Jamie Cox as “the easiest route”.

“I don’t think Cox is big enough as a super-middleweight,” Groves told Boxing News. “I don’t think he’s had the tests that I’ve had, he hasn’t been hit as anyone as I do.

“He is not frightened to fight dirty, he gets his head involved but we won’t stand for any of that. The biggest risk I thought for me is that you need to preserve yourself because the fights come around so quickly.

“I felt capable of beating any of the four unseeded guys but I think Cox is probably the easiest route. I’m not afraid to say that. I’ve been ballsy in the past and it hasn’t worked but this is about winning the whole thing.”

Chris Eubank Jr was the last name confirmed for the Series after retaining his lesser-regarded IBO title against Arthur Abraham at the weekend in a contest where only the winner would be invited to the tournament.

If he defeats unbeaten (but largely untested) 16-0 Turkish boxer Avni Yildirim in the quarters, the last four will be guaranteed another all-British showdown between Junior and the Groves-Cox winner. Eubank vs Groves in particular is a fight that would sell tickets on these shores, tournament or not, and instantly adds legitimacy and intrigue to the fledgling concept.

In the bottom half of the super-middle bracket sits one domestic star: unbeaten British champion Callum Smith, who first meets Sweden’s Erik Skoglund. Though undefeated himself at 26-0, Skoglund has until now fought at light-middleweight and has yet to compete outside of Sauerland Promotions strongholds Scandinavia and Germany.

The winner of that could find themselves in a second successive “somebody’s ‘0’ has to go” battle against American middleweight Robert Brant, another fighter moving weight class for the tournament, another expected to receive his first big tests there and another who could compete outside of his geographic comfort zone for the first time as part of the event. That is, of course, if he gets past the tourney’s experienced participant Juergen Braehmer. The German returns to super-middle for the WBSS having lost his light-heavyweight world title to Nathan Cleverly last year.

The cruiserweight tournament will feature Murat Gassiev (Russia) vs Krzysztof Włodarczyk (Poland), with the winner to meet the victor of Mairis Briedis (Latvia) vs Mike Perez (Cuba).

The fight to watch in the cruiser quarters, however, is Oleksandr Usyk versus Marco Huck. Usyk, a friend of fellow Ukrainian Vasyl Lomachenko, turned pro at the same time as Vasyl after dominating the amateur scene parallel to his comrade. Veteran Huck would be the biggest name on Usyk’s record, currently 12-0, if the Ukrainian beats the man who lost his last fight to Briedis. Eiher Yuiner Dorticos (Cuba) or Dmitry Kudryashov (Russia) would be waiting in the semi-finals.

The World Boxing Super Series is the first attempt at such a tournament in professional boxing since the acclaimed Super Six, also at super-middleweight, between 2009-2011. That event established Andre Ward as one of the pound-for-pound best on the planet, and also established Britain’s Carl Froch as a fearless warrior. Froch would himself join the P4P top 10 the following year.

It’s almost a given that the WBSS will boost a career or two in the same way. One can only hope that it also boosts the industry and helps restore the value of championships in the sport. One can only hope.