Boxing has always been a subject of fascination for many of us. The iconic image of two fighters, meeting fist to fist in the ring and fighting for their pride is something that we have all grown up with, thanks to cult classics like the Rocky Series or The Hurricane. Those images are now set to become reality as the second season of the World Series of Boxing (WSB) brings our very own Indian team to the forefront.

 Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists, supervised by a referee over a series of one to three minute intervals called rounds. The boxers are generally of similar weight. There are four ways to win; if the opponent is knocked out and unable to get up before the referee counts to ten seconds (a knockout, or KO), if the opponent is deemed unable to continue (a Technical Knockout, or TKO), if an opponent is disqualified for breaking a rule, or a winner is determined either by the referee’s decision or by judges’ scorecards at the end of the bout. 

Now in the ring there are various styles that get incorporated, like stylist boxing, wherein the boxer seeks to keep distance between his opponents before powering in with a long range punch, notably the jab. Notable fighters like Muhammad Ali and in fiction, Apollo Creed, used this technique. Other styles include the ‘Brawler Style’, where the lack of finesse is made up for with brute strength and durability. The fictional Italian stallion Rocky Balboa used this style through six very successful movies. Another kind of style is called ‘Swarmers’, where the fighter stays close to the opponent, powering in with a flurry of punches to build up the pressure. Mike Tyson, among others, employed this technique. But most fighters today, prefer to use a combination of styles, both offensive and defensive to stay on top of the game.

What is the World Series of Boxing?
The WSB is an ambitious project launched in 2010, the brain child of International Amateur Boxing Association (AIBA) in the hope of getting into new markets and audiences by selling out franchises across the globe. WSB is a competition wherein boxers will fight without head guards and vests, with professional-style scoring, three judges, a referee and one supervisor and is the only professional boxing series in which the boxers retain their Olympic eligibility. A WSB match will have five bouts, with each bout consisting of five rounds of three minutes each. The team with the most wins from the five bouts wins the match. The series is an annually recurring competition featuring franchisees (teams) located around the world.

The competition comprises three phases, the first being a regular season of league matches between the teams. The second are the Play-off series between teams which are split into quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals. The final phase but definitely the most watched is the Individual championships for each weight category. The teams are divided into two groups A and B, each consisting of six teams. During the Regular Season within each group, the teams will meet each other once at home and once away, giving a total of 10 matches for each team. Representing the subcontinent are the Venky’s Mumbai Fighters owned by Transtadia with a list of fighters who promise a good punch in the ring.

After each league season, the two top boxers in each weight category based on the WSB ranking system compete in the Individual Championships. The winner of each weight category is the designated WSB World Champion in that weight category for the relevant season. Now the fighters are split up according to certain weight categories. In the WSB the categories start with Bantamweight (50-54kg), goes on to the Lightweight category (57-61kg) followed up by the Middleweight section (68-73kg), the Light-Heavyweight category (80-85kg) and the most anticipated Heavyweight category (91+kg). An additional rule here is that the minimum number of boxers in one team for the new season is 15 and there is no longer a limit on the maximum number of boxers. The maximum number of international boxers from the same country per franchise remains at two.

The match-day format consists of five bouts (one in each weight category), with each bout consisting of five rounds of three minutes each.

At the Individual Championships, the bouts consist of seven rounds of three minutes each.  An electronic scoring system is used with three judges operating a 10-point “must” system in which the opponents are scored 10-9, 10-8 or 10-7 at the end of each round, based on their overall performance. The scores are announced at the end of the bout.

With regard to the overall scoring for each match, each team receives one point for each bout that it wins so the team that wins three or more of the five bouts in a match will be the winning team.

Teams earn three points for a win; in case of a draw each team earns two points, a team earns one point in case of a close defeat. There are no points for a 5-0 or 4-1 defeat.

Each franchisee has a minimum of two boxers for each weight category. The franchisees need a minimum of two squads of five boxers in order to ensure that all boxers can have the mandatory minimum 13-day rest period between matches.

Who are the players?
With the series spread across three global regions, Europe, the Americas and Asia, the best and the brightest are coming in to represent the sport in the series. Spread across the groups, Group A and B, there are 12 teams in total. In group A teams like The Astana Arlans (owned by the Kazakhstan Boxing Federation) and Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder (owned by Boxe in Progress Srl) dominate the scene.

Venky’s Mumbai Fighters comes in with a strong presence in this group. The Indian team, owned by Transtadia, holds an interesting line up.  The team consists of Akhil Kumar, a 2006 Commonwealth Games (CWG) gold-medallist, Jitender Kumar, a bronze medal winner at the Melbourne CWG, and three-time national champion Diwakar Prasad. Notable among other Indians are former World Cadet champion Balbir Singh (bantam) of Delhi and 2007 junior world champion Vipin Kumar (bantam).

The other Indian boxers in the squad, who will opened their campaign in this season are Gaurav Bidhuri (bantam), Siddharth Varma (light), Mandeep Jangra, Vijay Hooda (middle), Jasveer Singh, Rahul Kumar (light heavy), Krishan Kumar and Sumit Rangi (heavy).

In group B, teams like Baku Fires (owned by Gilan Holding) and Leipzig Leopards (managed by 4heads-media GmbH in co-operation with the German Boxing Federation DBV), form up considerable forces to be reckoned with.

Los Angeles Matadors Captain Rau’shee Warren (Bantam) and Leipzig Leopards fledgling German, Arthur Bril, the current AIBA youth world champion and Youth Olympic gold medallist are strong contenders this season as well as Philip Hrgovic in the heavyweight category, who are expected to put in a good show.

With the matches having begun in November, a great many good bouts are something that can be looked forward to. Despite a good beginning in Pune by the Venky’s Mumbai Fighters against the Dolce & Gabbana Milano Thunder with a narrow defeat of 3-2, the next outing was dismal as in their first away in Perm, Russia against the home team Dynamo Moscow, they suffered a 0-5 defeat. The next bout to look forward to is on the 9th of December where they are playing host to the Los Angeles Matadors, in the third match in group A category.