Bellew may need to fight Mairis Briedis next

By Boxing News - 05/29/2016 - Comments

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By Jeff Aranow: While Tony Bellew (27-2-1, 17 KOs) was naturally in a celebratory mood on Sunday night after beating #1 WBC Ilunga Makabu (19-2, 19 KOs) by a third round knockout to earn the vacant WBC cruiserweight title, Bellew may need to fight his WBC mandatory challenger Mairis Briedis (20-0, 17 KOs) next, and that might not be a good thing for Bellew.

Bellew and his promoter Eddie Hearn were speaking of wanting to fight IBF/WBA cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev next rather than Briedis. That might be the only way Bellew can swerve around facing Briedis next because Bellew can’t take a voluntary defense for his next fight because he won the vacant WBC cruiserweight title. He didn’t win the belt off anyone.

The World Boxing Council will surely let Bellew fight a unification fight next if one is available, but if Hearn can’t set that fight up with Lebedev or WBO champion Krzystof Glowacki, then he’ll need to fight the 31-year-old Briedis.

Most boxing fans might not think it’s a big deal that Bellew fight Briedis because they probably aren’t too familiar with the unbeaten Latvian fighter. But for the hardcore fans that have seen Briedis fight, they know that Bellew could very lose the fight to him. Briedis looked very good recently in beating the big punching Olanrewaju Durodola by a 9th round knockout this month on May 14 in their WBC cruiserweight eliminator bout. Durodola is a bigger puncher than Bellew and Makabu.

Durodola recently stopped knockout artist Dmitry Kudryashov in the 2nd round last November. As good as Briedis is, it’s imperative that Hearn set the unification fight up between Bellew and Lebedev because that might be the only big money fight Bellew gets as the WBC champion. If he has to face the hard hitting Briedis straightaway, and surely he will have to if he doesn’t get the unification fight, then he could lose his WBC title in his first defense.

The 6’1” Briedis is taller than the 5’11” Makabu, and he’s a very clever fighter with a great him and excellent punching power. Briedis is just a very smart fighter in the ring. He doesn’t make the kind of mistakes that Makabu tonight by backing up against the ropes and just covering up. Briedis would never do that. He’s the opposite of Makabu with punching power almost as good if not as good.

Bellew would likely be a serious underdog against Briedis, but in this case, he might not be able to pull off the upset like he did tonight.
Briedis moved up to heavyweight last year to defeat former heavyweight world title challenger Manuel Charr in a 5th round knockout. The fight wasn’t competitive. Briedis was too agile, and too smart for Charr.

“I’m the best man in the division,” said Bellew after the fight tonight. “I’ve always said from day one that I’m one of the biggest punchers in the division. I am the best cruiserweight in the world. I have proven it tonight. King Kong and 25 other men couldn’t keep me on the floor in this place,” said Bellew.

Bellew might not even be the best fighter with the WBC, let alone the best cruiserweight in the division. Beating Briedis is going to be very difficult for Bellew. He can swerve the fight against Briedis for a while if he takes the unification fight, but he won’t be able to do it permanently if he wants to keep the WBC belt.

The WBC probably isn’t going to let Bellew fight anyone he wants and forget about the WBC’s rules about fighting mandatory challengers. The WBC has other contenders that are just as dangerous as Briedis such as Durodola, Marco Huck, Oleasandr Usyk, Thabiso Mchunu, and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. I see Bellew having to take the fight with Briedis next unless Hearn can get him the fight against Lebedev, which could even be worse for him.

Some boxing fans believe Hearn will try and setup a voluntary defense for Bellew against British fighter Ovill McKenzie. It would be a third fight between them, and it would make for an appealing bout for local British fans. But if the WBC is going to put their foot down and insist that Bellew fight his WBC mandatory, which I think they will, then he’s going to be stuck facing Briedis next unless Hearn can setup a fight between Bellew and Lebedev.