The inaugural season of WBSS’s Cruiserweight tournament was concluded last month in the most epic fashion when Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk beat Russian Murat Gassiev before a capacity crowd of 24,000 at the Olimpiysky Arena in Moscow.

“We have an amazing line-up with eight worthy challengers that rival last season’s sensational quality,” said Kalle Sauerland.

“Cruiserweight is one of the most exciting divisions, just look at last season’s unbelievable match-ups. So we are looking forward to a new season.”

The eight cruiserweights competing for the Muhammad Ali Trophy, the single-elimination tournament from October 2018 to summer 2019 are matched as follows in the quarter-finals:

No 1 seed Mairis Briedis (24-1,18 KOs), Latvia vs. Noel Mikaelian (23-1, 10 KOs), Germany

No 2 seed Yunier ‘The KO Doctor’ Dorticos (22-1, 21 KOs), Cuba vs. Mateusz ‘Master’ Masternak (41-4, 28 KOs), Poland

No 3 seed Krzysztof ‘Glowka‘ Glowacki (30-1, 19 KOs), Poland vs. Maksim ‘The Kill’ Vlasov (42-2, 25 KOs), Russia

No 4 seed Ruslan Fayfer (23-0, 16 KOs), Russia vs. Andrew ‘The Beast’ Tabiti (16-0, 13 KOs), United States