By Tom Degun

World_Series_of_Boxing_logoOctober 21 - The troubled World Series of Boxing (WSB) Delhi franchise has been withdrawn from the new global boxing series - due to domestic political problems in the boxing community in India - and replaced with the South Korean outfit the Incheon Redwings.


Ivan Khodabakhsh, chief executive of the WSB, said: "This was a very difficult decision to take with just over a month to go until the start of the first regular season.

"However, we were very fortunate to find an investor quickly in order to move forward with the WSB Asia Conference with all four teams without any problem.

"We would therefore like to welcome the Incheon Redwings to the WSB family."

The Redwings will compete against the Astana Arlans, the Baku Fires and the Beijing Dragons from November this year.

The Redwings, which have the full backing of the Korean Amateur Boxing Federation under new president Sang Soo Ahn and the city of Incheon, will take over the international boxers previously signed by the Delhi franchise and will employ their own national boxers from South Korea in accordance with WSB rules.

The WSB, an initiative of the International Boxing Association (AIBA) and its president Dr C K Wu, is set to bring together the best of the amateur and professional boxing worlds.

It will be the first truly global professional-style boxing tournament and also allow all participants to retain their eligibility to participate in the Olympic Games and the individual champions to qualify directly for the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The WSB comprises 12 city-based franchise teams spread across three regional conferences of Asia, the Americas and Europe.

During the regular season from November 2010 to March 2011, teams in each conference will compete against each other over two home and two away legs, a total of 12 matches per team.

Boxing squads consist of between 10 and 20 boxers, with a cap on the maximum number of national boxers and a requirement to field between three and six non-national boxers according to squad size.

The top team from each conference, plus the best second-placed team, will then go through to the play-off series to compete for a place in the team championship final at a neutral venue.

Separate individual championships will be held for the best boxers in each of the five weight divisions, which are 54kg, 61kg, 73kg, 85kg and +91kg.

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