Kalle Sauerland admits a major power move “is coming” after Wasserman Boxing was unveiled as the sport’s newest promotional company with plans to “massively attack” the boxing market.
Wasserman announced the acquisition of Team Sauerland last month, a deal that was nine months in the making, which created frenzied speculation about how the global sports agency could make a big impact on British boxing.
Kalle, with his brother Nisse, has worked with David Haye, Evander Holyfield and Mikkel Kessler, along with current stars such as Mairis Briedis, Filip Hrgovic and Chris Eubank Jr.
Asked about his ambitious plans, Sauerland told The Ringside Toe 2 Toe podcast: “The deal was very simple.
“The Wasserman Group have acquired Team Sauerland and Team Sauerland is now Wasserman Boxing. That’s what the announcement was.
“There’s loads of presumptions made on the back of that, which is great, because people are interested.
“What it means is it gives us an opportunity to massively attack the market.
“They are the biggest sports agency on planet earth. There’s no one that comes close. Forty Premier League winners on their books. Over two thousand athletes under contract, that’s the horsepower in the engine.
“When you put something like that out in boxing, of course there’s a lot of guessing. I know the move. The move you will see. The move is coming.
“There’s so much excitement about it. Judge us on what we do and judge us in six months’ time on what we’ve done. Let’s get to work now.”
Eubank Jr recently teamed up with Sauerland ahead of his long-awaited return, a must-win fight against Marcus Morrison on the Derek Chisora vs Joseph Parker bill on May 1, live on Sky Sports Box Office.
Hrgovic, Croatia’s heavyweight contender, could be one fight away from challenging Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury in the near future, but the emergence of Wasserman Boxing has prompted immediate interest from more worldwide talent.
“We’ve had so many approaches in the first 24 hours,” said Sauerland. “Out of the UK, at least 20 fighters and worldwide, loads of different ones. There’s lots and lots of interest.
“The stable of fighters at the moment, I would describe as a very high-end boutique stable right now.
“You’ve got Chris Eubank Jr, a big pay-per-view name in the UK. You’ve got Filip Hrgovic, the man that many say is the future of the heavyweight division.
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“You’ve got Mairis Briedis, the World Boxing Super Series winner. You’ve got about five, six kids in the top 10 of the world rankings, the next generation. We’re going to build and build and build on that.”
The UK is one territory where Wasserman Boxing intend to recruit, with its new financial pulling power, but Sauerland remains open to working with other promoters to secure the most significant fights in the sport.
“For us, it’s about acquiring talent, at the same time,” he said.
“We work with other promoters as well, we always have done, and that makes us a little bit different maybe to some promoters.
“We’ve so often done co-promotions, worked together because that is the only way you will break down the barriers to get the best against the best.”
