even when this tournament ends..i think this will be the end of WBSS which is a shame....i cant see a season 3 popping off after all this
9/26 DAZN WBSS Season 2: Yuniel Dorticos vs Mairis Brieidis (CW Final - IBF CW Title)
- Thread starter patscorpio
- Start date
even when this tournament ends..i think this will be the end of WBSS which is a shame....i cant see a season 3 popping off after all this
Naoya Inoue-Emmanuel Rodriguez Official For May 18, Glasgow
Japanese superstar Naoya Inoue faces Emmanuel Rodriguez on May 18 for the Puerto Rican’s IBF strap in their 118lb Ali Trophy semi-final.
The SSE Hydro will be rocking as the IBF bantamweight title bout takes place the same night as Scotland’s Josh Taylor takes on Belarus’ IBF World champion Ivan Baranchyk in a semi-final of the 168lb division of the World Boxing Super Series.
‘Monster’ Inoue (17-0, 15KOs) advanced to the semi-final on October 10 in Yokohama, Japan making a mind-blowing statement when he knocked out former champ, Juan Carlos Payano from the Dominican Republic, with an electrifying jab-cross only 70 seconds into the first round.
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On October 20 in Orlando, USA Puerto Rico’s Emmanuel Rodriguez (19-0, 12KOs) retained the IBF title with a twelve round split decision over previously undefeated Jason Moloney from Australia. The scores were 115-113 for Moloney and two times 115-113 for Rodriguez after a high-intensive back-and-forth battle.
Both Inoue and Rodriguez have credible reasons for entering the semi-final stage with poise and self-assurance.
“My destiny is to win the prestigious Ali Trophy and prove I am the best bantamweight in the world,” said Inoue. “I cannot wait to box in the United Kingdom in front of their loud fans and I will show them a ‘Monster’ performance!”
“I have been waiting for this moment my entire life,” said Rodriguez. “I always wanted to fight the best, and now I am fighting a boxer considered the best by the boxing reporters and fans. That’s great motivation for me, my team, and Puerto Rico, We got this.
“I am going to get the victory. Puerto Rico will shine in Scotland and I am confident of going all the way and take home the Ali Trophy."
“This amazing match-up highlights the vision of the World Boxing Super Series,“ said Kalle Sauerland, Comosa’s Chief Boxing Officer.
“Two unbeaten World Champions, two sublime athletes, are putting everything on the line for a place in the final of the World Boxing Super Series where the Ali Trophy awaits the winner. It doesn’t get bigger than this.”
Tickets for the hotly-anticipated semi-finals on May 18 in Glasgow will soon go on sale. Fans are encouraged to sign-up for Ticket Alerts to receive an email reminder when tickets can be purchased.
Bigblackted4
Superstar
Damn packed weekend
Rev Leon Lonnie Love
damned mine eyes, DAMNED mine eyes!!
I need Tete to put the beats on Donaire for real 
Sbp
Superstar
This is a long ass tournament
Prograis vs Relikh is going to be a memorable fade...I can feel it
Tete vs Donaire has a 50-50 chance on being very good or struggle.
Tete vs Donaire has a 50-50 chance on being very good or struggle.
Zolani Tete Suffers Injury, Donaire Fight Status To Be Determined
By Jake Donovan
An injury suffered by his last opponent during their fight helped advance Nonito Donaire to the World Boxing Super Series semifinals.
A pre-fight injury suffered by his next scheduled opponent could give him either a relatively clear path to the finals or yet another delay in a tournament littered with issues.
Event handlers are currently scrambling for a contingency plan for the co-feature attraction to Saturday’s show at the Cajundome in Lafayette, La. Donaire was due to appear in a bantamweight title unification clash with Zolani Tete, who reportedly suffering a shoulder injury and is no longer able to fight this weekend.
Two sources involved in the WBSS card have confirmed Tete’s injury to BoxingScene.com, with the development first reported by Fox Sports boxing insider Mike Coppinger. Messages left with representatives for Donaire and Tete have not yet been returned.
The show’s main event between New Orleans’ Regis Prograis and unbeaten 140-pound titlist Kiryl Relikh remains intact. The chief support remains in flux, with event handlers currently reaching out to tournament alternate Stephon Young—who is slated to face Daniel Lozano on the undercard—to replace the injured Tete, as confirmed to BoxingScene.com by Kalle Sauerland, chief boxing officer for tournament presenter Comosa AG.
Donaire (39-5, 25KOs) and Tete both advanced to the semifinals by very different means in separate quarterfinals wins last fall. Donaire claimed his second major bantamweight title following a 4th round injury stoppage of exiting WBA titlist Ryan Burnett, who suffered a back injury towards the end of round four and was forced to retire in between rounds of their title last October in Glasgow, Scotland.
The win came three weeks prior to Tete (28-3, 21KOs) advancing to the semifinals following a 12-round win over 2016 Olympic Silver medalist Mikhail Aloyan in his opponent’s native Russia last October. With the win came Tete’s third defense of the WBO bantamweight title he claimed two years ago, the anniversary of that win coming earlier this week.
However the milestone will be celebrated, it will no longer come in the ring—and for Tete, it could also mean an unfortunate exit from the tournament altogether.
Plans remain very up in the air at the moment, with the primary objective to keep Donaire on Saturday’s show.
Tournament alternate Young currently scheduled to appear on the undercard, although in a replacement fight of his own. The Miami-based contender was due to face Nikolay Potapov, who was pulled from the card—ironically, as he remains a top contender for Tete’s WBO title—with Young currently scheduled to face Lozano, a fringe contender from central Florida.
Young’s team has not yet been approached with a formal offer as this goes to publish.
Should a Donaire-Young pairing not materialize, the backup plan would be to reschedule the originally planned unification clash once Tete is healthy. The issue there would be for such a fight to find a home, as the second round of the WBSS tournament has already been delayed by at three months after running into several financial and legal issues between organizers and participants.
Several boxers complained of not being paid in full—and in a couple of cases, at all—following their fights in the quarterfinal round for WBSS season two. Most notable among the lot was unbeaten 140-pound titlist Ivan Baranchyk, whose management team threatened to pull its fighter from a semifinals clash with Scotland’s Josh Taylor.
The matter was only recently resolved, as Baranchyk has agreed to go through with the May 18 bout in the first defese of the title he won in a gruesome stoppage win over Anthony Yigti last October. The same show also saw divisional top-seeded Prograis advance to the semifinals in a 12-round win over former 135-pound titlist Terry Flanagan.
Prograis was presented with the opportunity to withdraw from the tournament as well, but chose to wait out the drama as his intention remains to fight for the two 140-pound titles available between the semifinals and finals.
No such drama came of the bantamweight semifinalists, at least not to the degree of threatening to pull out of the tournament. Instead, the bracket was hit with the same dilemma which plagued the semifinals and finals in season one.
Jurgen Braehmer suffered an injury shortly before his scheduled super middleweight semifinals clash with Callum Smith in Germany. Smith would instead face and defeat tournament alternate Nieky Holzken, who was due to appear on the undercard before accepting assignment on just four days notice.
Smith went on to win the super middleweight bracket, but with the moment delayed by nearly four months when countryman George Groves suffered an injury in his 12-round semifinals win over Chris Eubank Jr.
The cruiserweight finals was also pushed back by more than two months. The delay came about after eventual tournament winner Oleksandr Usyk suffered an elbow injury, thus pushing back his planned World cruiserweight championship with Murat Gassiev from May to late June. Usyk pitched a near-shutout in unifying all of the major cruiserweight titles and went on to be hailed 2018 Fighter of the Year.
The same reality existed for the stacked bantamweight bracket, which would have three of the four major titles unified by tournament end. For now, though, there remains the lingering issue of just getting past the semifinals.
shyt.....
