Pakistan cricket icons Wasim Akram and Shahid Afridi have acquired franchisees for Super Boxing League teams in Pakistan.
The inaugural Super Boxing League Season will feature seven franchisee-based teams – Pakhtoon Warriors, Multan Nawabs, Lahore Rams, Karachi Cobras, Sialkot Shers and Faisalabad Falcons and Islamabad Kings.
Afridi co-owns the Pakhtoon Warriors with one Zeshan Afzal, while Akram is the absolute owner of the Multan Nawabs franchisee. Noted singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan is also associated with a team. He co-owns Faisalabad Falcons with Salman (off course, not Indian cinema icon Salman Khan). While Super Boxing League Pakistan has named franchisees for six teams, the team ownership for the Islamabad Kings is yet to be announced.
Each team will consist of six boxers – five male and one female.
The Super Boxing League is promoted by the Pakistan-origin British boxer Amir Khan in association with his British Indian partner Bill Dosanjh, who is the founder and co-chairman of the league. The duo is also running a professional mixer martial art league – the Super Fight League – in India.
Amir Khan has called a Press Conference in Karachi today (Thursday) to announce the teams and the franchisees.
Meanwhile, the proposed league by Amir Khan has run into an initial hurdle as the Pakistan Boxing Federation has announced that it would not support the Super Boxing League. “The PBF executive committee held its meeting, and in a resolution unanimously decided that the PBF will not become part of any event, including SBL, not organised under the statutes of AIBA and constitution of the national federation,” a PBF spokesman has reportedly stated. “The PBF will promote and develop boxing and protect the interests of pugilists in accordance with AIBA and PBF rules.”
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