The next edition of the World Boxing Super Series remains on hold while the legacy of the Covid pandemic lingers on, making it difficult to put on a worldwide series of fights with any certainty. 

Kalle Sauerland, the chief boxing officer for the WBSS, said plans were underway for the third edition of the popular tournament, but said that running a truly global tournament was difficult in the present circumstances. 

“There will be an update soon,” Sauerland said. “It is so different in terms on putting on a tournament. 

“Wasserman promoted in Berlin two weeks ago and we have a show coming up in Cologne, we have one in Vegas and one in Australia, one in London and everywhere is different.  

“In Germany, for instance, we were told ‘no VIP allowed’ and we were cut to 1,200 spectators and that is different in different parts of Germany. 

“From a UK perspective it sounds easy. But it is not as simple as that, we don’t want to do a UK tournament. We want a tournament that goes across the world. That’s impossible still, unfortunately. We are now looking at how best we can do that and what the strategy for the future is.” 

The first edition of the WBSS saw tournaments at cruiserweight and super-middleweight, with Oleksandr Usyk and Callum Smith winning. 

The second edition saw tournaments at bantamweight, super-lightweight and cruiserweight, with Naoya Inoue, Josh Taylor and Mairis Briedis winning. 

The winner was presented with the Muhammad Ali Trophy. It also created tow undisputed world champions in Usyk and Taylor. The tournaments featured fights in the UK, United States, Germany, Japan, Latvia, Saudi Arabia and Russia. 

But while it has been nearly a year since the last, delayed tournament finished, Sauerland insisted that it would be back. 

“We’ve got a new CEO now Thomas Schmidt, who was one of the three founding partners back in the day,” Sauerland said. “He understands the DNA of the business and he has got some great ideas. 

“So, we will sit down and see what is feasible to make happen as soon as possible – we miss it. The board is totally behind it, the investors are totally behind it. But it has to be something that fits into the ethos of the World Boxing Super Series and the Muhammad Ali Trophy. That’s the key.  

“While normal boxing is there, a global tournament is not quite there yet.” 

Ron Lewis is a senior writer for BoxingScene. He was Boxing Correspondent for The Times, where he worked from 2001-2019 - covering four Olympic Games and numerous world title fights across the globe. He has written about boxing for a wide variety of publications worldwide since the 1980s.