By Jeff Aranow: WBO cruiserweight champion Oleksander Usyk (13-0, 11 KOs) weighed in at 199.3 pounds on Friday afternoon for his semifinals match in the World Boxing Super Series on Saturday night against WBC Mairis Briedis (23-0, 18 KOs) for their fight at the Riga Arena in Riga, Latvia.
Briedis, 33, weighed in at 199.1 lbs. The main difference between the two was the towering height of the 6’3” Usyk.
There will be 10,000 fans that will be in attendance tomorrow night at the sold-out Riga Arena. Many of the fans will be Briedis’ Latvian boxing fans, who will be supporting him in the toughest fight of his career.
There are 4 fighters remaining in the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament. In addition to the Usyk-Briedis fight, WBA champion Yunier Dorticos and IBF champion Murat Gassiev will be squaring off soon for their semifinals match.
When the 31-year-old was standing next to Briedis for the long face off, he looked considerably bigger than him. That doesn’t mean Usyk will win on size alone, because he’s beaten taller guys than himself in the past. It’s just that Usyk is a lot more talented than anyone that Briedis has fought before.
It’ll be trickier for Briedis to get the win over a fighter with the kind of boxing skills that Usyk possesses. But by the same token, Usyk has yet to face anyone at the pro level with the overall ability that Briedis possesses. Usyk has beaten some good fighters like Krzysztof Glowacki, Thabiso Mchunu, Michael Hunter and Marco Huck. However, those fighters don’t bring the same kind of talent to the table as Briedis.
”We’ll see what happens tomorrow,” Briedis said. “It’s an honor to represent Latvia at such a high stage bout. Hopefully we can live up to the expectations and make a great fight tomorrow. That’s something I’ll be able to tell you tomorrow after the fight,” Mairis said when asked if Usyk is the toughest fight for him up to this point in his career. “It gives me additional motivation [fighting at home in Latvia]. I’ll be happy to see you all tomorrow at the Arena with my energy and your support, let’s do it together,” Mairis said.
It’s too bad U.S boxing fans won’t get a chance to see the Usyk vs. Briedis fight, as there are a lot of people that have a great deal of interest in watching this one. Instead of being able to watch the fight live, the U.S fans will be stuck watching highlights of the fight on Youtube.
“I feel. I very feel,” Usyk said when asked his thoughts on his fight with Briedis on Saturday night. ”I know I have the opportunity to unify the belts tomorrow night. It does motivate me, because I love green color very much. I’m ready for victory because I worked hard. I didn’t see anything there,” Usyk said when asked if he saw anything in Briedis’ eyes during the stare down.
The 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk is top seed in the WBSS tournament, and he’s viewed by many boxing fans as the best fighter in the division. Usyk doesn’t plan on staying at cruiserweight if he wins the WBSS tournament, as he says he’s going to move up to heavyweight to go after a world title fight against Anthony Joshua. That means all the belts Usyk wins will soon be vacated and we’ll likely see the same guys grabbing them.
Usyk first must prove that he can beat Briedis and the winner of the Gassiev vs. Dorticos fight. It’s not going to be easy because those guys can all punch, and they already know the type of style that gives Usyk problems. Usyk does not like to be pressured hard. He gives ground quickly when he’s pressured. If Usyk wins but looks bad by running from Briedis on Saturday, he’ll lose a lot of boxing fans.
