By Scott Gilfoid: Mairis Briedis is scheduled to fight on the undercard of World Boxing Council cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew’s next fight against BJ Flores on October 15 at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, England. Bellew (27-2-1, 17 KOs) was supposed to be defending his title against the unbeaten #1 WBC Briedis (20-0, 17 KOs), but the WBC let him make a voluntary defense against the 37-year-old Flores (32-2-1, 20 KOs), who currently isn’t ranked in the top 15 by any of the sanctioning bodies.
I expect that to change shortly with the WBC likely giving Flores a top 15 ranking. Bellew defeated Illunga Makabu by a 3rd round knockout to win the vacant WBC title last May in Liverpool. With the WBC title being a vacant one, it should have meant that Bellew would fight his No.1 contender Briedis next, but the WBC is letting him fight the non-Top 15 ranked Flores.
I suppose the idea of having the 31-year-old Briedis on the undercard of the Bellew vs. Flores card is to setup a fight between the two fighters if Bellew beats Flores in their fight on October 15. Bellew might lose, but that’s neither here nor there. Whoever wins the Bellew-Flores fight will need to fight Briedis next unless the WBC lets them bypass him again. Whatever the case, eventually Briedis will get a title shot against the WBC champion.
Hopefully it happens next, but you never know. I could see the fight getting dragged out until 2018, especially if Bellew decides he’s ready to fight David Haye at heavyweight after the Flores fight. My guess is Briedis will be shoved to the side while that fight takes place at heavyweight.
I expect Briedis to knockout Bellew when he eventually gets his shot at that title. If Flores does the job on Bellew first, then that will save Bellew a defeat to the Latvian fighter Briedis. It’s a bad match-up for Bellew because Briedis is not only a big puncher, but he’s very smart and has excellent chin. He doesn’t fight dumb. You won’t see Briedis backing up against the ropes and playing the sparring partner role that we saw from Makabu last May. Briedis is too smart to pull a bone-headed move like that.
Briedis is coming off of an impressive 9th round knockout win over Olanrewaju Durodola last May. Breidis dropped the big punching Durodola twice in the fight in the process of stoppig him in the 9th round. Last year in May 2015, Briedis knocked out former heavyweight world title challenger Manuel Charr in the 5th round.
Also on the Bellew vs. Flores card are the following fights:
Callum Smith vs. TBA
Paul Smith vs. TBA
Stephen Smith vs. TBA
David Price vs. TBA