The promoter turns 50 in April and needs a lone title holder to reach a half-century. As it stands, the most likely route to that milestone is Viddal Riley.

The Ring’s No.8 cruiserweight defends his European title against mandatory challenger Seydi Coupe in the main event of Saturday night’s MF Pro show at Wembley Arena, London.

First son of one of Europe’s most legendary promoters, Wilfried Sauerland, the 49-year-old has never known a life without boxing. “Even my babysitters were professional boxers,” he says, completely seriously.

He sees something special in Riley (14-0, 7 KOs), the former boxing trainer of Misfits co-founder KSI. The Londoner spent the first 13 fights of his career with Ben Shalom and Boxxer but decided to sign with Sauerland at MF Pro in December. Saturday night will be his second outing under their banner following his impressive one-sided points win over Mateusz Masternak in April.

“Over the years I’ve shown how much I love cruiserweights,” Sauerland said. “I think I’ve had around 15 world champion cruiserweights and I just think it’s a fantastic division. These are the heavyweights who have to make weight, so they’re always in shape.

“There are always fantastic fights, but I think in the last couple of years, since Oleksandr Usyk won the World Boxing Super Series in 2018, really, it has dipped a little bit. It has maybe missed those bigger names.”

The World Boxing Super Series was the brainchild of Sauerland, which involved eight-fighter tournaments in specific weight classes. In the first season at cruiserweight, all four belts were involved, with Usyk beating Murat Gassiev in the final to win the tournament and unify the division.

Usyk boxed once more at cruiserweight before heading north to heavyweight, but he has recently outlined his plan to drop back down to 200 pounds to face the WBA and WBO champion, David Benavidez.

“I do think the division is back on the up now,” Sauerland says. “You see it with Benavidez and with [The Ring champion] Jai Opetaia. Then of course, with Usyk talking about coming back down.

“But I believe we’ve got to look to these shores and there’s a name who deserves to be in that mix in Viddal Riley. For me, Saturday night is all about stamping his right to be mentioned alongside those names. I think he’s timing it just right and he won’t just be a world champion but a unified world champion.”

The irony is that without an ongoing legal battle between the IBF and their former champion, Opetaia, Riley likely would have faced IBF No. 1 David Nyika for the vacant belt already. Instead, he has played the waiting game and his first world title shot will now likely land around the same date as Sauerland’s big 50th birthday bash in April.

“We worked it out on a long train journey a few months ago that I’ve had 49 world champions so far,” he says. “So I could get No.50 the year I turn 50. Call it a 50:50 year.

“I love storylines with world champions. There are some world champions you inherit, but I would say around half of them, we’ve created from scratch. Viddal wasn’t one of those, of course, but at the same time he’s got a long career ahead of him, and I think we can guide him all the way.”

So after steering so many fighters to the very pinnacle of the sport, what is the key ingredient which separates world champions from the rest?

“It’s about being ever-ready,” Sauerland says, without hesitation.

“Loads of guys have got lots of talent in gyms; you see it all the time. They've got all this talent, but it's about patience, keeping learning, but crucially being able to move at the right time for the right fights.

“Your career's about timing. It's great to have a good promoter, it's great to have a good trainer and manager etcetera, but if you’re not able to take the opportunities when they arise what’s the point?”

Riley could have sat around and waited for a resolution in the IBF situation but instead decided to stay sharp and stay focused by facing Coupe on Saturday night. For Sauerland, being available to box regularly can be the real difference to a fighter’s career.

“I'll give you a good example at cruiserweight,” he says. “Marco Huck,

“When he came to us, he was absolutely useless. Absolutely useless. He was a bad kickboxer. In fact, he was the only kickboxer I ever met who hadn't won a world championship. That’s how bad he was. 

“But he listened, and he turned up every day. Ulli Wegner did a fantastic job on him and we played it right with the rankings; we got the right fights at the right time and then moved him when the time was right. But the key was that he was always ready. You could tell Marco you're boxing in four weeks' time for the world title, no problem. He's in.”

A few years before that, Sven Ottke, one of the jewels in the Sauerland crown, produced a scarcely believable run of world title defenses. After becoming IBF super-middleweight champion in October 1998, he would go on to successfully defend the title four times a year for the next five years. The German, who retired undefeated in 2004, ran like clockwork, boxing every March, June, September and December.

“His consistency was insane,” Sauerland says. “He was four times a year, world title defenses, always ready. It means you never miss an opportunity. “When you’re really honest about it, a fighter has a peak of around three years, some two, some maybe four, but on average it’s around three years. These days, that’s only about six fights. That’s your career, those six fights; what can you get done in those six fights? If you’re not ready for those, your career will pass you by.”

There is little chance of that happening to Sauerland himself, after a lifetime in boxing and absolutely zero plans to start scaling down his operation as he heads into his 50s.

“I don’t have a choice,” he says. “I was born into this life. “My dad didn’t stop when he got in the Hall of Fame; he just continued. It’s not like you can stop anyway. There’s no exit plan for me, that’s for sure. “I love it too much. It’s the sport that you cannot say no to.”