The World Series of Boxing will be an annually recurring, global competition featuring franchises in three regional conferences: ASIA, EUROPE, AND THE AMERICAS. Each region will initially be comprised of FOUR CITY-BASED FRANCHISES, and each franchise will field a SQUAD OF 10 BOXERS across the FIVE WEIGHT CLASSES designated by AIBA.
The competition will be comprised of THREE PHASES: A “REGULAR SEASON ” of league matches between franchise teams, A PLAY-OFF SERIES, and, finally INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS for each weight class.
TEAM COMPETITION
Teams in each region will compete against each other during the regular season. Each team will play its regional rivals four times-twice at home and twice away-resulting in a total of 12 matches per team. Each match will consist of five individual bouts, including one at each weight class.
The top team from each of the three regions, plus a fourth (2nd-best finisher) team will face each other in a play-off format to determine the World Championship team.
INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
The individual championships for each weight class will take place after the conclusion of the play-off series. The top two boxers in the regular season will compete for the individual title of World Champion.
THE FIVE WEIGHT CATEGORIES
Bantam •
Heavy
THE INAUGURAL SEASON OF THE WORLD SERIES OF BOXING WILL TAKE PLACE DURING 2010/2011
Sep - Dec 2010 Regular Season
Jan 2011 Play-Off Series
Feb - Mar 2011 Exhibition Matches
Apr 2011 Individual Championship Bouts
AS A PROFESSIONAL BOXING LEAGUE, THE COMPETITION RULES AND REGULATIONS WILL INCLUDE:
• Each match between teams will consist of five bouts (one per weight class).
• Each bout will consist of five rounds.
• Rounds will consist of three minutes in length.
• Each evening of boxing will last approximately two hours, which is ideal for television programming and for the spectator experience.
• A manual scoring system will be used with three judges operating a 10 point system; the scores will be announced at the end of each bout but there will not be any live scoring during the bout itself.
• The referee will play no part in the judging.
• The boxers will not wear vests or headgear.
• The glove weights will be 8 oz. and 10 oz. (depending on weight categories).
• The ring size will be the same as for AIBA competitions.
OFFICIALS
Professionalism, impartiality and fairness of the referees and judges will be critical to the success of the World Series of Boxing. The WSB will appoint a pool of referees and judges in each of the three regions, and these officials will be the only officials entitled to participate in judging and refereeing WSB matches in that region for each season.
WSB will choose the most qualified AIBA referees and judges, educate and train them in the WSB competition format at the AIBA boxing academy and manage them centrally in order to ensure impartiality.