Skip to content

Want to be a professional boxer? You can try out for the ‘TikTok of boxing’ — and might even get on TV.

The Team Boxing League is hosting the first televised open boxing combine in Atlantic City this weekend.

The nation's first and only boxing league with a team-based  ownership model, Team Boxing League, will be hosting a boxing combine for roster spots in season four.
The nation's first and only boxing league with a team-based ownership model, Team Boxing League, will be hosting a boxing combine for roster spots in season four.Read moreTeam Boxing League

If you’ve ever thought about becoming a professional boxer, now may be your chance. The Team Boxing League will be hosting the first-ever televised open boxing combine at Bally’s Atlantic City this weekend (Jan. 16-18).

“The last two years, when we did different tryouts in different cities, we would get a line around the block from the gym that we would do tryouts in,” said Team Boxing League CEO Kevin Cassidy. “So, we decided we would do kind of America’s Got Talent style, open casting call. And that’s how we got into it.”

Fighters will compete for roster spots for the boxing league’s Season 4 lineup. Here’s what you need to know about the event …

What is team-based boxing?

The Team Boxing League is the nation’s first — and only — boxing league with a team-based model.

Each bout features 24 three-minute rounds of non-stop fighting with competitors switching on and off after one-round matches.

Each round is scored by three judges, who are licensed by a State Athletic Boxing Commission. A round is scored 10-9 for the winner of a judge’s decision, and if there’s a knockdown, it’s ruled 10-8. All 24 individual round scores are added up at the end, and the team with the highest total score gets the win.

And that format makes for a unique fighting style.

“It’s a little bit different in team boxing,” Cassidy said. “They train to go all out in one round. So, they could either fight one or two rounds in an event. That’s the most. It’s not like traditional boxing, where you have a couple of rounds where you’re feeling out the other fighter. This, you have 30 seconds to figure out the other fighter and then you have to go all out.

“It’s the TikTok of boxing. It makes for excitement in all 24 rounds.”

The TBL season begins mid-March and ends in September. They’ll host 56 events across the country, with 12 teams representing different cities — including the Philadelphia Smoke from the East Division.

What to expect from the combine?

This weekend’s three-day combine at Bally’s Traymore Ballroom will test each athlete’s endurance, strength, punching power, and accuracy through nine different stations.

“They have different things for each,” Cassidy said. “They have rope drills and speed bags. And we have some technology that Bally’s developed for boxing which is going to test their hand speed and see how many uppercuts they throw. They’ll test their endurance, their fitness, their punching power, their coordination, all of those things.”

How to watch

All three days will be streamed live on the Team Boxing League app and an edited version will be broadcast on Envoy TV in February.

“I’m looking forward to learning the stories of the fighters, their backgrounds,” Cassidy said. “We have fighters that come from a very diverse background. You have guys who have been to prison, police officers, firemen, construction workers.

“There’s a lot of fighters around the country who never got a chance to make it and this gives them a lot of exposure.”

Fighters can register for the TBL Boxing Combine Tryouts online.