Mairis Briedis

Mairis Briedis: Bellew must fight me BEFORE Haye

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By Scott Gilfoid: Well, it looks li WBC cruiserweight champion Tony Bellew (27-2-1, 17 KOs) is going to need to calm down with his talk of fighting David Haye next or even taking a voluntary defense, because his WBC mandatory challenger Mairis Briedis (20-0, 17 KOs) is saying he’s the one that Bellew MUST fight next, not Haye. Breidis, 31, is correct about that.

Bellew just won the vacant WBC cruiserweight title on May 29 with his third round knockout win over #1 WBC Ilunga Makabu in Liverpool, England, and Bellew is now supposed to fight his mandatory challenger Briedis next. In other words, Bellew doesn’t have a voluntary defense for his next fight.

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Bellew may need to fight Mairis Briedis next

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By Jeff Aranow: While Tony Bellew (27-2-1, 17 KOs) was naturally in a celebratory mood on Sunday night after beating #1 WBC Ilunga Makabu (19-2, 19 KOs) by a third round knockout to earn the vacant WBC cruiserweight title, Bellew may need to fight his WBC mandatory challenger Mairis Briedis (20-0, 17 KOs) next, and that might not be a good thing for Bellew.

Bellew and his promoter Eddie Hearn were speaking of wanting to fight IBF/WBA cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev next rather than Briedis. That might be the only way Bellew can swerve around facing Briedis next because Bellew can’t take a voluntary defense for his next fight because he won the vacant WBC cruiserweight title. He didn’t win the belt off anyone.

The World Boxing Council will surely let Bellew fight a unification fight next if one is available, but if Hearn can’t set that fight up with Lebedev or WBO champion Krzystof Glowacki, then he’ll need to fight the 31-year-old Briedis.

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Mairis Briedis stops Olanrewaju Durodola

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breidisBy Jeff Aranow: Unbeaten #4 WBC cruiserweight contender Mairis Breidis (20-0, 17 KOs) proved to be too much for the powerful #2 WBC Olanrewaju Durodola (22-3, 20 KOs) in stopping him in the 9th round on Saturday night to capture his WBC Silver cruiserweight title at the at the Arena Riga in Riga, Latvia.

The fight was stopped after Breidis was hitting Durodola at will with shots in the 9th.

Breidis, 31, nailed the 35-year-old Durodola with a big right hand that sent him flying into the corner. The referee then gave Durodola a standing eight count. Durodola also lost his mouthpiece and had to have that put back in. Once that action resumed, Breidis flurried on Durodola with power shots until referee Frank Garza halted the fight with Durodola still on his feet.

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