By Matt Lieberman: The May 16 World Boxing Super Series final match between Mairis Briedis and Yunier ‘The KO Doctor’ Dorticos has now been canceled due to the pandemic.
WBC cruiserweight champion Dorticos (24-1, 22 KOs) and WBC Diamond champ Briedis (26-1, 19 KOs) had been scheduled to fight it out in the final of the WBSS tourney at the Arena Riga, in Riga, Latvia.
No new date yet for Dorticos vs. Briedis fight
There still isn’t a new date for the Dorticos vs. Briedis fight right now, but once the organizers for the WBSS tourney gather more information on the current crisis, a new date will be given. For the time being, everything is still too uncertain for the fight to be rescheduled.
The organizers of the WBSS tourney will stay on top of things and continue monitoring the events.
This is the second time that the Dorticos vs. Briedis fight has needed to be rescheduled. They were previously set to fight on March 21 in Riga, Latvia, because of the situation.
The date was then moved to May 16, hoping that would be far enough away for the crisis to abate. However, the Latvian government has a state of emergency now to control the spread of the virus within the country.
Dorticos and Briedis will eventually meet in the final for the Ali Trophy, which is awarded to the winner of the WBSS tourney. Both fighters have performed at a high level in winning their quarter and semifinal matches to get to the final of the tournament.
Briedis, 35, has recent victories over Krzysztof Glowacki and Noel Gevor in exciting matches. Against Gevor (24-2, 10 KOs), Briedis won a close and controversial 12 round unanimous decision in November 2018 in Chicago, Illinois.
Gevor outboxed and outworked Briedis the entire fight, and he appeared to have done enough to earn the victory. However, the judges scored it for Briedis by the scores 114-112, 115-111, and 116-110.
Boxing News 24 had Gevor winning eight rounds to four. He was the far better fighter on the night. Unfortunately for Gevor, the judges gave it to top seed Briedis that night Gevor needed to do a little bit more for him to get the ‘W.’
Briedis involved in a controversial fight with Glowacki
In Briedis’ semifinal fight against WBO cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Głowacki (31-1, 19 KOs), he beat the Polish fighter by a third-round knockout last June The match was marked by controversy by the circumstances surrounding what took place in round two. Glowacki hit Briedis with a clear rabbit punch to the back of his head.
Briedis then reacted to the illegal shot by elbowing Glowacki, who then fell from the blast. The two resumed fighting. When the bell sounded to end the round, both guys were still punching long after without the referee stopping them.
Briedis then hurt Glowacki again, but it came after the bell had sounded. Unfortunately, the badly hurt Glowacki was unable to recover in between rounds. In round three, Briedis finished off Glowacki to get the knockout.
Briedis was later stripped of his WBO title after electing not to defend it against Glowacki in an immediate rematch. There wasn’t any choice in the matter, as Briedis needed to continue fighting in the World Boxing Super Series tournament.
In Dorticos’ two fights in the WBSS tourney, he defeated Andrew Tabiti and Mateusz Masternak.
Dorticos’ record is 24-1, 22 KOs. His only career loss was against Murat Gassiev back in 2018.
