Bellew MUST fight Briedis next if he defeats Flores

By Boxing News - 08/30/2016 - Comments

Image: Bellew MUST fight Briedis next if he defeats Flores

By Scott Gilfoid: WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew got some bad news today with the World Boxing Council saying that he’s got to fight his mandatory challenger Mairis Briedis (20-0, 17 KOs) in his next fight if he successfully defeats #14 WBC fringe contender BJ Flores (32-2-1, 20 KOs) on October 15 in their fight at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England.

Bellew, 33, could have gotten the fight against the talented Brieidis out of the way in his first defense, but instead he opted to fight the 37-year-old Flores, who was recently easily beaten by Beibut Shumenov by a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision last year in July 2015.

Some boxing fans think that Bellew (27-2-1, 17 KOs) took the arguably much easier fight against the aging Flores in order to make sure he won the fight rather than taking on Briedis in a match that could very well go against him. Right now, Briedis looks very, very hard to beat, and he perhaps is a step too far for Bellew.

There’s no getting around the Briedis fight for Bellew, as the WBC has made it clear that he’s his mandatory challenger and that he MUST fight him. I still don’t know why the WBC let Bellew take the fight against Flores for his first defense, because he was supposed to defend against his mandatory Breidis.

From what I understand, when a champion wins a vacant title, as Bellew did with him winning the vacant WBC cruiserweight title last May against Illunga Makabu, they’re supposed to defend against their mandatory challenger in their first defense of their new belt. Why Bellew was able to make a voluntary defense in his first fight as the WBC champion is unclear.

It seems to me that Briedis should have been the one that was being given a title shot on October 15 in Bellew’s first defense, not Flores. A fight against Flores should have come AFTER the fight against Briedis. The good news is that Briedis will be getting a crack at the winner of the Bellew-Flores fight unless the WBC chooses to let the winner of that fight have another voluntary defense. That would be pretty sad if Briedis has to keep waiting for his title shot.

The Bellew vs. Flores fight will be televised on Sky Sports on October 15. Briedis will be fighting on the undercard in a 10 round fight against an opponent still to be determined. Having Briedis on the undercard of the Bellew-Flores fight card will give the British boxing fans a chance to see this fighter before Bellew faces him at a later day, which will likely be in early 2017.

It’s highly doubtful that Bellew will want to get back into the ring to fight Briedis so quickly after the Flores fight, even if he knocks him out in the 1st round on October 15. Bellew is going to need a TON of training to come up with the right strategy to beat the talented Brieidis, because the Latvian fighter is very solid and incredibly intelligent.

Bellew was lucky in his last fight to be fighting Illunga Makabu last May for the vacant WBC cruiserweight title at Goodison Park in Liverpool. Makabu was self-defeating with the way that he kept retreating to the ropes without being pressured and just covering up like a sparring partner.

The way that Makabu fought made absolutely no sense at all, because he was fighting like he had never trained before and had watched any of Bellew’s past fights. If Makabu had seen even one of Bellew’s fights, he would have realized that he mainly excels when his opponents back up against the ropes and lets him tee off on them. The only guy that was able to fight well off the ropes against Bellew was Isaac Chilemba in his two fights against Bellew in 2013.

I had Chilemba winning both of those fights, but the judges scored the first one a 12 round draw in March 2013 and the second one a 12 round unanimous decision for Bellew in May 2013. Both fights took place in the UK. Never the less, it’s not smart to hang on the ropes against Bellew, and that’s what Makabu did in their fight last May, so it’s not all that surprising to me that he got blasted out quickly in three rounds. I hate to break this to Bellew, but he can forget about Brieidis doing the same thing against him. Believe me, Briedis is not going to make a bone-headed move of backing up against the ropes and just fighting Bellew for prolonged periods like we saw with Makabu.

Briedis looked sensational recently in defeating a very powerful Olanrewaju Durodola by a 9th round knockout last May in their WBC cruiserweight title eliminator match. Durodola is someone that I think would have a very good chance of not only beating Bellew but knocking him out in the process.

Durodola hits VERY hard, and he looked out of this world great in his 2nd round knockout win over the previously unbeaten Russian KO artist Dmitry Kudryashov last November. Durodola blasted right through the hard hitting Kudryashov in beating him at his own game. Briedis was able to take some major shots from Durodola to get him into the later rounds of the fight to get a stoppage win in the 9th.

I don’t think Bellew would have been able to get past three or four against Durodola , because he just jumps on you, and forces you to slug with him. I think Durodola is like Gennady Golovkin type of fighter with the way he cuts off the ring on his opponents and forces them into wars whether they like it or not. It’s a credit to Briedis that he was able to withstand Durodola’s bombs long enough to get him into the 9th round to get the knockout.

As much as I like the whole Bellew story with him resurrecting his sagging career with a win over Makabu last May to become a world champion, I do not see him beating a talent like Briedis. I hate to say it but Bellew doesn’t belong in the same ring with a high quality fighter like Brieidis, who I rate at one of the top guys in the cruiserweight division. I see Briedis as being on par with Krzystof Glowacki, Oleksandr Usyk, Murat Gassiev, Marco Huck and Denis Lebedev. I rate Bellew as not being in the same class as these guys. I think Bellew is a decent fighter, but just not a top five type talent at cruiserweight.