Boxing is shapeshifting for this generation. For traditionalists, it can feel like too much newness. Besides the obvious YouTubers and influencers boxing matches, there is also a team concept called Team Combat League. Now entering season 2, the league consists of two conferences: East and West.
For legendary boxing coaches like Jeff Mayweather of the boxing family from Grand Rapids, Michigan, TCL is a necessary evolution of the sweet science.
“I think that it has its own lane because one thing about it, I think every round will be fresh because you have a fresh opponent fighting a fresh opponent,” Mayweather said to TSL. “It’s kind of like the YouTubers. When it started, everybody thought it was a joke, and then it became successful, and now it’s here to stay.”
“I think that this will be here to stay because boxing as a team is something different and unique,” Mayweather added. “You’re not going to have one round where a guy is stopped or beaten up. You’re going to have two guys in there who should be ready to give their best.”
What Is Team Combat?
Team Combat League matches feature “24 three-minute rounds of nonstop action,” according to their website. Competitors fight in one-round matches in eight weight classes, six male weight classes of 126 pounds, 135 pounds, 147 pounds, 160 pounds, 175 pounds, and 201+ pounds, as well as two female weight classes of 126 pounds, and 147 pounds. Sixteen or two fighters per weight class per team appear in each match.
Each match is broken up into three periods, with the first eight rounds being the Launch Rounds, rounds 9-16 being the Middle Rounds, and rounds 17-24 being the Money Rounds.
“No matter what level of boxing you’re in, it’s still about scoring points,” Mayweather explained. “You’ve got to have a good jab because your jab sets up everything. There are fighters who come out in the first round that are beasts and after that they are done. You have to look for guys that are front-runners. Even if you lose a round maybe your teammate can make up the round you lost.”
Coming from a man who was part of the Floyd Mayweather Sr. and Jr. era of boxing, Jeff says that in the hurt business making money is the only goal for a prizefighter, and now there are many more prizes to be had.
“Boxing’s been around forever. These new little exhibition fights are making so many new ways of making money, and this is just another avenue,” Mayweather concluded.