By Barry Holbrook: Former WBC/WBO cruiserweight champion Mairis Briedis (26-1, 19 KOs) outworked Yuniel ‘The KO Doctor’ Dorticos (24-1, 22 KOs) in defeating him by a 12 round majority decision on Saturday night to capture the World Boxing Super Series tournament Ali Trophy at the Plazamedia Studios, Munich, Germany.
Dorticos failed to let his hands go enough to stay competitive, and that allowed the 35-year-old Briedis to get the better of him. Down the stretch in the championship rounds, the powerful Cuban Dorticos gassed out and lost the fight at that point in letting Briedis control the action.
The scores were 117-111, 117-111, and 114-114. Boxing News 24 scored it 118-110 for Briedis. Dorticos was at his best in the first three rounds, but after that, he went downhill. That was when he could land some substantial right hands to the head and body of the Latvian fighter Briedis.
Unfortunately, Dorticos faded quickly from round three, and Briedis could take over entirely to win the fight.
The KO Doctor’s accuracy wasn’t there
Dorticos looked dangerous throughout the 12-round contest when throwing his right hand, but he wasn’t able to connect with it often enough. In the second half of the battle, the 34-year-old Dorticos repeatedly missed with his right hand. If he’d been able to land some of those shots, we might have seen a different outcome.
Dorticos looked like he wasn’t confident about his ability to land his right hand down the stretch run of the fight. He’d missed so many of his shots in the early part of the battle, and it appeared that he didn’t want to chance- it later in the contest.
Briedis did an excellent job of leaning back and ducking and blocking many big power shots that Dorticos was throwing. When Dorticos did land squarely on many occasions to the head of Briedis, he took the punches well and would spring forward to pay him back with his hard shots.
For Briedis, this is his second time competing in the World Boxing Super Series tournament. In January 2018, Briedis was eliminated by Oleksandr Usyk in losing a narrow 12 round majority decision in Riga, Latvia.
Dorticos also participated in the same WBSS tournament, but Murat Gassiev eliminated him by a 12th round knockout in February 2018. Like tonight, Dorticos lost energy in the championship rounds and ended up losing.
Gassiev and Usyk met in the finals of the tournament, with Oleksandr winning a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision. The only fighter in the tourney that Usyk had problems with was Briedis, and that was a fight that many boxing fans felt that Mairis should have won.
Briedis hit after the bell in the 12th
At the end of the 12th round, Dorticos nailed Briedis after the bell had sounded. Thankfully, we didn’t see Briedis retaliate with anything. Perhaps he learned his lesson from his fight against former WBO cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Glowacki, who he defeated by a 3rd round knockout last year in June.
In that fight, Glowacki hit Briedis with a rabbit punch in the second round, which led to Mairis hitting him back with an elbow.
In other boxing results on tonights’ Briedis vs. Dorticos card, middleweight Denis Radovan (14-0-1, 6 KOs) defeated Nuhu Lawal (27-8, 15 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The scores were 100-90, 100-90, and 100-90.