Mumbai-based firm buys country’s franchise of the World Series Boxing

When erstwhile World Wrestling Federation, now World Wrestling Entertainment, came to India, with a handful of their stars, the fights were a complete sell out at all the venues across the country.

If that was the craze for a staged, dramatised fight, India should now brace up for some unadulterated action.

The one of its kind team-boxing event, World Series Boxing (WSB), with a new Indian connection to it, is headed to the Maximum City.

After an unexpected pullout by Videocon in the last season, Mumbai-based sports infrastructure company TransStadia has bought the Indian franchise of the tournament.

As a part of the format, which has 12 teams with six in each group, five matches of the home-side against their group opponents will be fought in Mumbai.

“This is a shot in the arm for the boxers. We were hugely disappointed after Videocon pulled out last year,” said Akhil Kumar, one of India’s senior-most boxers.

Akhil says that this is the closest a boxer can get to professional style of boxing, i.e. without headgears, vests and in five rounds of three minutes each.

And he also admits that with Mumbai as the touching point of the event in India, it surely is a perfect place for gathering the right momentum.

So, how does this help Indian boxing? “This is IPL’s equivalent of boxing and a sure-shot way to secure our future,” said a top boxer.

Even the Indian Amateur Boxing Federation (IABF) is very optimistic about this development saying their boxers deserved this change.

“After last year’s last minute pull out, this development is a sign that people (sponsors) believe in Indian boxing and it has the potential to only be bigger and better,” PK Muralidhar Raja, IABF gen-sec told DNA.

Sportainment proposition
One of the reasons why Indian boxers are waiting with bated breath to be a part of WSB is that apart from being rewarded for their performances, this event would also attract celebrities from all over the country.

WSB and team owners both could not agree more. “WSB is one of the best sportainment propositions.

It is a compact two-hour show with lots of emphasis on entertainment,” Paul O’Neil, director of communications, WSB, explained. “Our events in LA, Milan and many other centres attract a lot of celebrities from sports, entertainment and fashion,” he added.

Mumbai franchise’s team principal Udit Sheth says if Bollywood and the fashion industry based in Mumbai converge at the WSB event, the formula is a sure-shot winner.

“LA is a huge entertainment destination, Milan is a fashion destination and the franchise is partly owned by Dolce & Gabbana (D&G),” he said, adding, “Indians too will lap it up.”

What’s the deal?
TransStadia bought the franchise for $5 million for a period of 10 years. It was a decision made in less than 48 hours.

“We had some competition from a Delhi-based company to buy the team, but because of our background in sports infrastructure, we got the nod,” Sheth explained.

TransStadia has to now sign a minimum of 15 boxers to fill up their team sheet. There is no limit to the number of boxers in each team but there is a limit on the foreign recruits.

At the technical level, TransStadia will have on board IABF in an advisory role. Most of the franchises participating in the WSB have their national boards helping them and Mumbai is no different.

Raja explained that this franchise represents India so the team can be effectively called the Indian boxing team.

“While there may be a few foreign boxers as part of the team, TransStadia’s franchise will be called the Indian team,” Raja said.

For now, IABF’s first job is to jot down list of candidates available for the post of coach and then help the franchise to pick the best boxers.

The Delhi franchise story
Delhi Tigers, owned by Videocon, had backed out last season citing ‘unavoidable circumstances’. In fact, the pull out happened after the team, coach, team name and the logo of the side were announced.

Delhi Tigers had Vijender Singh, Akhil, Dinesh Kumar, Jai Bhagwan and Jitender Kumar — besides nine international boxers.

Mirko Wolf, a German coach, had also been hired for the team but the entire build-up went down the drain.

It wasn’t just unavoidable circumstances that led to the last-minute pull out.

A few boxers had issues with the contract, which gave the owners exclusive rights over boxers for a three-year period and that clashed with the interests of their (boxers’) already-existing promotion and management partners.

So, why would boxers be keen on being a part of the new Mumbai-based team? “It was the first year and all the teams, not only Delhi franchise, but from other countries too were being formed in a hurry. There were no clear-cut guidelines in place for contracts,” Raja explained.

To explain the change in scenario, Raja went to the national camp in Patiala after the new team saw the light of the day and explained all boxers about the new contract rules by WSB.

“They are all now more than 100 per cent ready,” Raja said.
So, don’t be surprised if the Khans, Bachchans and the who’s who of entertainment are cheering for our boxers and bring the famous Madison Garden culture here.