Updated -- World Series of Boxing Stumbles Stateside, Gathers Steam Globally

(ATR) World Series of Boxing’s chief operating officer tells Around the Rings the league is a success despite the staffing cuts and venue changes shaking up its Americas conference.

"We had a very short time to establish WSB, and we had almost no time to market it properly," Ivan Khodabakhsh said of the AIBA pet project now in its debut season.

"In general, we are very very pleased, but we have to make our adjustments to be more successful."

Chief among those adjustments is a management restructuring of the Los Angeles Matadors, who sit atop rivals Mexico City, Memphis and Miami with five weeks of action to go.

ATR caught up with Khodabakhsh not long after a stateside visit during which he brought the team’s front office to a standstill, cut two-thirds of its staff and asked the remaining employees to send their job descriptions to WSB headquarters in Lausanne.

Los Angeles general manager Jeff Benz, formerly chief legal counsel for the U.S. Olympic Committee, was later fired as well.

"The costs we were facing in L.A. were so much higher than budgeted, and we couldn’t understand the reasons," he said.

The Matadors fought their first three home bouts at the 7,100-seat Nokia Theatre before switching to the 1,200-capacity Avalon Hollywood for the remainder of the season.

According to Khodabakhsh, the marquee music venue – home to the ESPYs, Emmys and recent "American Idol" finales – proved far costlier than expected, but not as much so as the plump payroll.

Unlike their four European and four Asian counterparts, the American franchises are run not by license owners but rather by management teams who work in conjunction with WSB itself but outsource event production, marketing and other auxiliary services.

In the case of Los Angeles, that team – unbeknownst to Khodabakhsh – employed roughly a dozen full- or part-time staffers, even more than the COO has working under him back in Lausanne.

"You setup an organization quickly, you hire one person who sets it up, you give a budget, then you get your reports, you reassess the situation, you see OK you have more costs than were budgeted, you go back and restructure," he said.

"That’s normal, and we’ve done it on a very small scale in just one franchise."

The Matadors still have a full lineup of roughly 15 boxers, a head coach and multiple assistant coaches as well as the requisite support staff.

Though both Miami and Mexico City have already switched to smaller venues and Memphis is considering a move downtown to boost its profile, Khodabakhsh said the Americas conference is here to stay.

"We are absolutely determined to make it work," he insisted.

"It’s a matter of credibility to show this is a global product. [Would WSB] succeed without Americas? I’m convinced yes. But [is it] as good as the product would be if Americas weren’t there? It’s a matter of judgment."

Khodabakhsh’s confidence comes not only from his vision for the league’s future and but also from the success he’s already seeing elsewhere in the world.

Only the Moscow franchise suffered a setback when the Boxing Federation of Russia took over the last-place Kremlin Bears after the prior owner failed to pay licensing fees to WSB.

Meanwhile, crowds in Paris, Milan and Istanbul are reaching up to 2,500 – excellent for any amateur boxing event – and a recent bout in Baku, Azerbaijan drew 3,000.

Such attendance figures seemed central among Khodabakhsh’s sources of pride, perhaps second only to the quality of boxing on display each week.

He was quick to note the recent praise of 1984 Olympian Evander Holyfield as well as former lightweight world champ Sean O’Grady, who helps call WSB bouts for U.S. broadcast partner Versus.

Such celebrity endorsements, coupled with actual footage from actual fights, will only make Khodabakhsh’s job easier going forward.

As he toured the world pitching franchise licenses last year, all he had were "glossy brochures and Powerpoint presentations" at his disposal.

"Now you can touch it, you can see it, you can feel it, and it’s great," he told ATR.

"Now we have to basically be able to sell it for what it’s worth."

Khodabakhsh said he fully expects the existing conferences to have more franchises next season and is already eyeing expansion into South America and Africa.

"The beauty of World Series of Boxing is that anytime we add a new franchise, we are basically adding a new market and a new number of people," he explained, drawing a distinction between WSB and a more established league like the NBA that only splits up a preexisting fan base among its many franchises.

"When we expand, we are gaining new markets, new viewership, more people interested and more companies interested."

In the meantime, Khodabakhsh points to the boxing itself as proof of the league’s success and of a promise for what’s to come.

"We hope to be around for a long long time," he said.

"Specifically with WSB Americas, we are looking forward to having our best boxers competing in the upcoming Pan American Games and at the world championships. Ultimately, the proof of our quality will be seen next year at the London Olympics."

WSB's best five boxers directly qualify for the Summer Games, quite a perk from what is designed to be a team competition.

Franchises face only their continental rivals during the 12-match regular season, after which the top four finishers advance to playoffs. The championship is slated for May 7 in Macau, China.

Written by Matthew Grayson.