World Boxing Super Series Cruiserweight Tourney Odds – The World Boxing Super Series recently announced the brackets for the first round of their planned 8-man, single-elimination tournament in the cruiserweight division and the fights are already getting attention from the sports books.
The top seed heading into the first round is the Ukraine’s undefeated Oleksandr Usyk (11-0). Usyk has an extensive amateur and Olympic background and he has quickly become a force in the professional ranks. As the number one seed, the WBSS tournament rules allowed him to select his opening round opponent and he picked Germany’s rugged Marco Huck (40-4-1). Huck is a former world champion who is coming off the loss of his belt this past April. The fight has been set for Max Schmeling Stadium in Germany, but that is not expected to affect Usyk who has fought on the road as an amateur his entire adult life. Usyk selected Huck because he was viewed as the biggest challenge.
The number three seed is Mairis Briedis (22-0) and he is taking on Mike Perez (22-2-1). Breidis, who fights out of Latvia, is the man that defeated Huck and holds the WBC world title and he will enter a favorite against Perez, who is a Cuban who has fought most of his pro career as a heavyweight. The fight is set for Latvia on September 30th.
The number two seed on the opposite bracket is Russia’s Murat Gassiev (24-0). Gassiev is the IBF world cruiserweight champion and he is coming off a win over tough Denis Lebedev in December. He is set to face off against Poland’s Krysztof Wlodarczyk (53-3-1) in a fight that sees Gassiev a four figure favorite. Wlodarczyk is by far the most experienced fighter in the tournament but he is still not on the level technically of the other fighters.
The fourth seed heading into the quarter finals is Cuba’s Yunier Dorticos (21-0), who faces Russia’s KO machine Dmitry Kudrayshov (21-1). Dorticos is undefeated, but he has been away from action for more than a year. In his last fight, Dorticos won the interim version of the WBA world title with a 10th round stoppage over Youri Kayembre Kalenga of France. The location and exact date are not yet set. Many are considering Kudrayshov as a potential dark horse in the tournament because of his impressive resume that sees all of his 27 wins come by way of KO.
The winners of Usyk-Huck and Briedis-Perez will meet early next year, as will the winners of Gassiev-Wlodarczyk and Dorticos-Kudryashov. The two winners of those bouts are expected to meet in the tournament finals by May of next year.
Also, check out our latest TalknShoot Boxing Podcast where we talk more about the WBSS tournaments, right here at GMS.
World Boxing Super Series Cruiserweight Tourney Odds
The WBSS announced a second tournament in the 168-pound super middleweight division, and both tournaments are set to kick off in the September-October time frame. The finals for both tournaments are expected to go down by the middle of 2018 so it is an aggressive scheduled that the tournaments will keep.
Below are the opening quarter-final round match-ups for the 200-pound cruiserweight tournament.
World Boxing Super Series Q1 –
Cruiserweight 12 rounds
Marco Huck +1100
Oleksandr Usyk -2000
Mike Perez +310
Mairis Briedis -400
Krzysztof Wlodarczyk +1000
Murat Gassiev -1750
Dmitry Kudryashov +170
Yunier Dorticos -2
World Boxing Super Series Cruiserweight Tourney Odds / Check out more boxing news and features at The Sweet Science, where the best boxing writers write.
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