Super Boxing League to feature 8 teams

Mumbai: Eight teams comprising 96 pugilists will fight in the first ever Super Boxing League (SBL) to be held in New Delhi from July 7 to August 12, it was announced on Monday.

The eight teams of the inaugural edition of SBL are Mumbai Assassins, Delhi Gladiators, Haryana Warriors, Sher-E-Punjab, UP Terminators, North East Tigers, Maratha Yoddhas and Southern Super Kings.

The league level matches will be held from July 7 to 30, followed by two semi-finals on August 5-6 and the final on August 12.

The league is being organised by British businessman Bill Dosanjh, also the founder and promoter of successful Super Fight League and two-time world professional boxing champion Amir Khan.

"It is a huge step towards delivering our vision of creating an inspirational international level of contact sports in India," said Dosanjh in a release.

"It's a great feeling to see a concept taking shape and today we have eight teams with the best of industry partners owning them. I am thankful to all team owners for believing in our vision and joining hands in delivering something which will soon be a symbol of aspiration for many young pugilists across globe."

The eight teams participating in Super Boxing League are owned by top corporate honchos. Aditya Munjal of Hero Cycles, Arjun Jain of White Fox and Shiva Vij, an industrialist from Delhi, will jointly own Delhi Gladiators. Nitin Jadhav of Gajanan Oil will own Mumbai Assassins, Jaskaran Puniyani and Navraj Jaura of the Jaura Group will own UP Terminators.

Southern Super Kings will be owned by Abhinandan Balasubramaniam. Ajeenkya Patil of the DY Patil Group will be owning Maratha Yoddhas, the team that comes from Pune, while Amit Aggarwal of S&J Granulate Solutions Pvt. Ltd. will own North East Tigers. Karan Devgan comes on board as the owner of Haryana Warriors.

Speaking at the occasion, professional boxer and promoter of SBL, Amir Khan said: "Long-term partnerships work best for both the brand and the team, where they draw from each other's vigour. SBL is going to be a big leap in the history of boxing and I am confident that it will become one of the most coveted titles in boxing in the years to come."

Each team at the Super Boxing League will have a squad strength of 12 boxers, including six back-up boxers. A team will have a mix of five male and one female boxer and can have a maximum of three international boxers. Each action-packed weekend of SBL will see the best-of-six bouts formats across six weight categories. A bout will have four rounds of three minutes each.

SBL has roped in Sony Pictures Networks India as the broadcast partner for on-air as well as online streaming of the league.