I’m officially all in on the World Boxing Super Series which appears to be the best combat tournament since Frank Dux took down the Kumite in Bloodsport.  Consisting of both a super middleweight (168 lbs) and cruiserweight (200 lbs) bracket, this single elimination knockout style tournament has been thrilling.  For this article I want to focus on the cruiserweights, who have their third quarterfinal fight coming up this weekend.

The first 2 bouts in the cruiserweight bracket have ended in action packed stoppages.  Quarterfinal #1 concluded when tournament favorite Oleksandr Usyk overwhelmed Marco Huck in the 10th round forcing the ref to jump in and protect the former champion.

The second fight took place this past weekend between Yunier Dorticos and Dmitry Kudryashov.  This one ended quickly when Dorticos landed a monstrous right hand resulting in a spectacular 2nd round KO.

I’m starting to suspect that Dorticos might be the Night King as it appears he has the ability to turn opponents into white walkers with just a single shot. 

The 3rd quarterfinal bout is slated to take place this Saturday.  Undefeated WBC champion Mairis Briedis will put his title on the line against former heavyweight contender Mike Perez in what should be another exciting battle.

I have to commend the organizers of the WBSS who seem to have studied and learned from the mistakes of the last major boxing tournament, the Super Six World Boxing Classic.  The Super Six took over 2 years to complete and had a convoluted tournament structure that was more confusing than the BASEketball playoffs.  The WBSS on the other hand, eliminated the confusing structure and has scheduled the completion of the tournament to take less than a year.

Like the Super Six, the WBSS did a great job of getting the top fighters in the division involved.  All of the major belt holders are participating with the exception of WBA “Super” title holder Denis Lebedev (Dorticos is the WBA “regular” champion).  This is exactly what boxing needs.  By the end of this tournament, the cruiserweight division will have a champion who holds all of the “regular” belts and hopefully a bonafied superstar.  I don’t think this hope is too ambitious considering the Super Six is what made the great Andre Ward into a household name.  

Now go watch Bloodsport, I know you want to.