There's no such thing as 7.2V or 11.1V Li-ion cells. 7.2V would be two 3.6V cells in series and 11.1V would be three in series.Or maybe it is 7.2v's in Parallel? Or maybe it is just a single 11.1V 8000mAh Li-Po. I Dunno?
The problem with putting cells in series, especially in a fixed enclosure, is that you then really oughta balance-charge them. Circuitry to do that exists of course, but it adds cost. Is that less or more the difference between buck-only and boost-buck? I dunno.
FWIW, a common arrangement in BEV and PHEV cars is a "400V" battery which consist of 96 cells in series (and depending on the size of the battery, there may be some paralleling as well). Yes, cars balance-charge. batteries in 'em generally come with 8 year warranties.