ISLAMABAD (APP) – In a bid to bring talented Pakistani boxers to fore, British boxer Amir Khan Monday announced to launch the Super Boxing League (SBL) in Pakistan this December.

Talking to media here at Amir Khan Academy, he said franchised-based teams would be participating in the league. “There will be eight teams and each team will comprise eight boxers,” he said.

“The teams include of Multan, Faisalabad, Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore, Quetta, Sialkot and Karachi,” he said. Amir said he is hopeful that SBL would prove valuable for Pakistani boxers.

“The idea to create this league came from India’s league which was a good one but we have more talent in Pakistan and hopefully SBL would be a big hit,” he said.

Amir said he will not bring international boxers in the first edition of SBL as he wants to promote Pakistan’s local talented boxers first.

He said he wants to show the talent present in Pakistan to the world. “This league would prove beneficial for the future of boxing in Pakistan,” he said.

He said the venue for the event is not finalized yet. “The title of this championship will be owned by World Boxing Council (WBC) and the league will provide Pakistani boxers to win a WBC belt,” he said.

“I want to do this for Pakistan. Only Pakistani boxers are going to be involved in this Championship. So we are going to localize it to see the local talent,” he said and added that women boxers would also be a part of this league. He said Amir Khan Boxing Academy in England had been performing well.

British High Commissioner, Thomas Drew who was also present on the occasion termed Amir as Pakistan’s Muhammad Ali. He also lauded World XI’s tour to Pakistan. “We want to see revival of sports in Pakistan and for that we would play our role,” he said.