We were spoiled by the Sauerland Bros.

While intermittent fight scheduling and fighter pull-outs would usually see a tournament struggle and suffer, Kalle and Nisse Sauerland have adapted to both problems and put forth tournaments in divisions so deep we the fans were still treated to absolute classic fights.

Be it cruiserweight, bantamweight or light welterweight, the moving parts didn’t hinder the final outcome: terrific finals, star-making performances, and the best fighting the best more often than not.

Despite not being a businessman, I cannot think how difficult it must be to put these tournaments on. Before Sky Sports got involved there was apathy from big broadcasters and some confusion from fans where they would actually be able to see these fights. Online pay-per-views, free YouTube broadcasts, some localized television deals, it was a bit all over the place. But fans persevered and Team Sauerland did their best to keep everyone in the loop. Again, a great job done with lots of moving parts.

But is their a division with the depth to provide an incredible tournament, the fanbase to pack out arenas and the low purses to make it financially viable for Kalle and Co?

Actually, there is. And it’s the best division in boxing right now.

But a deep roster alone would not necessarily be an incentive for the WBSS to stage a tournament featuring light flyweights. Let’s take a look at some other info and see why this could be viable for the Sauderland brothers.

Keeping costs low and favourable TV deals

Information for Japanese purses are scarce, but looking at the information that is readily available, we can see that sub-featherweight purses are low even in the current boxing climate.

Bearing in mind that the $175,000 bid to stage straw-weight great Wanheng Menayothin’s first title fight against Oswaldo Novia is a truly astronomical cost to stage a fight in boxing’s lowest divisions, you start to get an idea of how low a price these fighters command.

When IBF and WBA champ Hekkie Budler was due to defend against hard-punching Nicaraguan Felix Alvarado, the winning purse bid was a measly $25,000! Budler vacated his IBF title rather than defend for that sum, but this doesn’t mean this is an outlier.

Take a look at HBO’s instant-classic ‘Superfly’ cards: Artem Dalakian made just $25,000 for a vacant WBA flyweight title fight against Brian Viloria. Even more established fighters such as Juan Francisco Estrada ($100,000 for his first fight with Srisaket Sor Rungvisai) Carlos Cuadras ($25,000 to fight devastating puncher and world amateur champ McWilliams Arroyo, who got the same) and Naoya Inoue ($182,000 to fight Antonio Nieves, who received $35,000) should suggest that for the even less well known light flyweights the initial costs will be low and the grand prize would be too tempting an offer for even established world champions to pass up on.

Also, favourable relationships between the Japanese networks that the top two in the division compete on—Kenshiro and Kyoguchi—mean that a deal would likely be easy to make should they both make the final. As for U.S TV, DAZN has already featured WBO champ Elwin Soto, and the World Boxing Super Series has done deals with DAZN and Sky Sports in the past.

With the COVID-19 pandemic essentially shutting down boxing worldwide, the fighters themselves then, are ready to go and might be willing to jump straight into the fire and make up for lost time, especially with the proud and competitive bunch down at light flyweight

Let’s see who they are. But first, let’s see how they compare to the deepest roster the WBSS has assembled to date.

108lbs and the deepest roster today

If you look at the cruiserweight division when the first tournament was announced, it was rich with excellent talent of all shapes, sizes and styles. Picking eight fighters at random from the top twenty would have seen the World Boxing Super Series off to a great start.

Let’s look at who they picked and who missed out:

Actual Roster: Oleksandr Usyk (WBO champ, winner, Olympic gold medalist and transcendent talent)

Murat Gassiev (IBF champ, finalist, humongous puncher with underrated skills)

Marco Huck (battle-tested former WBO champ)

Yunier Dorticos (WBA, big punching Cuban)

Mairis Briedis (WBC champ, heavy-handed boxer-puncher who held a knockout win over WBA heavyweight titlist Manuel Charr)

Krzysztof Włodarczyk (former WBC champ, high level of competition)

Dmitri Kudryashov (arguably the hardest puncher in boxing, a glass cannon from Russia with nuclear power)

I count four of the hardest punchers in boxing, two pound-for-pound level talents, two former champs, and four reigning champions (Denis Lebedev’s WBA was not on the line when he lost to Gassiev and Dorticos came in with some form of WBA strap).

Let’s see who missed out:

Tony Bellew: WBC emeritus, opted to fight David Haye at heavyweight instead

Denis Lebedev: Hard-punching southpaw, renowned for his durability and still holding a version of the world title

Krzysztof Głowacki: One fight removed from being WBO champ, held a knockout victory over Huck, tournament alternate

Grigory Drozd: Former WBC champ, essentially retired at the time but a very-skilled fighter all the same

Ilunga Makabu : Puncher, previously lost to Bellew, as of 2020 riding an 8-fight winning streak, combined opponent record of 126-75-9, had beaten likes of Thabiso Mchunu, Dymtro Kucher and Eric Fields going into the tournament

Thabiso Mchunu: Slick and tiny boxer with wins over Eddie Chambers, Zack Mwekassa, Olanrewaju Durodola, losses to Makabu and Usyk.

Mateusz Masternak : Former European champ, losses to Tony Bellew and Youri Kalenga, wins over Jean Marc Mormeck, Eric Fields and Ismayl Sillakh

Andrew Tabiti : Undefeated American, not a deep resume but highly touted at the time, was a WBSS season two participant

So as you can see, the division was extremely deep, and if any of these four had been on the opposite side of the ring against Usyk, Gassiev, Briedis and Dorticos we would have likely been treated to really good fights.

This is arguably the level of depth and talent we see at light flyweight today.

Punchers, multi-faceted operators, an international talent pool and enough depth to support an excellent tournament so long as the main players are involved. And a few fighters who could be ready to fight their way into the upper echelon of the pound-for-pound lists.

Who are the main players, you might ask? Let’s take a look at them first.

The Left Side of the Bracket

Per World Boxing Super Series rules there are four ‘seeded’ fighters who pick their opponents on the unseeded side of the bracket for the quarter finals. The highest seed winners then faced the lowest seed winners in the semi-finals.

My own choices for the order of the seeded fighters here is arbitrary but I’m pretty certain that 108lb connoisseurs will agree with the first two seeds even if they might prefer to flip ‘em!

1st Seed: Ken Shiro (WBC Champ, 17-0, 10 KOs)

Baby-faced WBC champ Kenshiro Teraji is the marquee name at light flyweight. With seven title defences to his name and an ever-improving skill set, this tall champ has set his sights on breaking Yoko Gushiken’s title defence record before he moves up in weight.

Known for a superb jab (arguably the best pound-for-pound jab in boxing right now) and solid power, Ken Shiro mixes his shots up well to head and body, and is a fine ring general. Of his 10 knockouts, five have come in his world title bouts.

However, do not be fooled by his teenage face: he is 28 years old, and will need to get the big fights soon if he is to make the most out of his ability. With wins over Ganigan Lopez, Pedro Guevara, Milan Melindo, Jonathan Taconing and Randy Petalcorin, the champ already has a solid resume but the big fights have eluded him thus far.