By Kenneth Friedman: The next fight that is in the firing line to be postponed is the May 16 clash between IBF cruiserweight champion Yunier ‘The KO Doctor’ Dorticos (24-1, 22 KOs) and Mairis Briedis (26-1, 19 KOs) at the Arena Riga in Riga, Latvia. Dorticos, 34, and Briedis are scheduled to meet in the final of the World Boxing Suoer Series.
The Dorticos vs. Briedis fight has already been postponed once, as they were initially set to battle on March 21. The fight date had to be changed because of the pandemic. Moving the time to May 16 wasn’t far enough into the future since it’s now on the verge of being postponed as well, according to Dan Rafael.
WBSS organizers to make statement soon
“In line with new Latvian government guidelines relating to COVID-19, Comosa AG, (the) World Boxing Super Series organizer, are discussing the consequences for the WBSS cruiserweight final scheduled to take place in Riga,” said German promoter Kalle Sauerland to ESPN.com.
The statement from the WBSS organizers could very well be another postponement alert for the Dorticos-Briedis fight. It might be a good idea at that time for them not to reschedule the match until they know for sure that it’ll happen. For boxing fans to have faith in a fight taking place, they have to believe it’ll arrive on the date given.
If the WBSS organizers continue to reschedule and postpone the Dorticos vs. Briedis fight, it could give the appearance that it’s a disorganized mess. The best plan would be to wait for the government of Latvia to provide an all-clear before they reschedule the fight.
The worst-case scenario is if the WBSS finable between Dorticos and Briedis is moved to 2021. If the WBSS final between Dorticos and Briedis gets pushed back into 2021, it’s going to be a disappointment for boxing fans. As of now, it’s been ten months since Dorticos and Briedis won their respective semifinal matches in the WBSS in Riga, Latvia.
Dorticos looked spectacular in his semifinal fight in stopping Andrew Tabiti in the 10th round last June. ‘The KO Doctor’ Dorticos had too much power and boxing skills for Tabiti to handle. Before that, Dorticos struggled to defeat Mateusz Masternak by a close 12 round unanimous decision in October 2018.
That was one of Dorticos’ toughest fights of his career besides his 12th round knockout loss to Murat Gassiev in February 2018.
For his part, Briedis is coming off of a crazy 3rd round knockout win over Krzysztof Glowacki last June.
