Who is Mairis Briedis and why is he cool. Poster - fight Mairis Briedis vs Mike Perez - World Boxing Super Series Sparring with brothers Klitschko and Sergey Kovalev

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Mairis Briedis - Mike Perez

Poster - fight Mairis Briedis vs Mike Perez

On September 30, at the Arena Riga, Riga, Latvia, a fight among boxers in the first heavy weight (up to 90.8 kg) will take place - fight Mairis Briedis (22v-0p-0n) (18 KO) vs Mike Perez (22v-2p-1n) (14 KO) ... Mairis Briedis vs Mike Perez.

The percentage of early victories Mairis Briedis KOs 82%. Early Win Rate Mike Perez KOs 56%.

Fight for the WBC Silver World Heavyweight Championship.

The fight will take place as part of the quarterfinals.

Ukrainian boxing fans will be able to watch the fight Briedis - Perez in live on the TV channel "Inter". The broadcast starts at 23:45 Kiev time.

Undercard

Krzysztof Glovacki (27v-1p-0n) (17 KO) vs. Leonardo Bruzzsese (18v-3p-0n) (6 KO)

Prehistory

Mairis Briedis- Born on January 13, 1985 (32 years old) in Riga, Latvian SSR, made his professional debut on October 11, 2009.

His career indicator is 22 fights - 22 wins (18 wins by knockout) and not a single defeat. In total, the Latvian played 91 rounds in the pro ring.

Height - 186 cm, arm span -? cm, weight -90 kg. "Nickname" of the Latvian -?.

Mairis Briedis is an undefeated Latvian professional boxer, as well as a boxer in the first heavy and heavy weight categories. European champion in kickboxing 2008. World champion in boxing by versions WBC 2017, IBO 2017, IBA 2013-2015.
2016 WBC Silver Champion, WBC Baltic 2014 Baltic Champion and 2016 IBF Inter-Continental First Heavyweight Champion.

From 2010 to 2013 he took part in the serial commercial boxing tournament Bigger's Better, and in the finals of two stages - in May 2010 Bigger's Better 1 and in July 2012 Bigger's Better 13 won the prize winning, and in both finals he twice defeated the experienced Ukrainian boxer Pavel Zhuravlev. On December 14, 2012 in Riga, he won the Bigger's Better King 2012 Super Final and became the 2012 Bigger's Better Champion. In 2013, at the Bigger's Better tournament, he fought several super-battles and won all of them.

Since 2011, about 15 times he went to the training camp of the Klitschko brothers' boxers, being one of the most frequent sparring partners of Vladimir Klitschko, helping to prepare Vladimir to defend the WBO, IBF, WBA and IBO titles, and in particular, for example, for the match against Russian boxer Alexandra Povetkina. And in May - June 2013 I was at a three-week training camp at legendary coach Don Turner in the USA, and after training camp in North Carolina in the same place TKO won American boxer Jonothan Felton. He also traveled to the United States to spar with world light heavyweight champion Sergei Kovalev.

Briedis' significant rivals were Marco Hook (40-3-1), Olanrevaju Durodola (22-2-0), Manuel Charr (28-3-0).

Mike Perez- October 20, 1985 (31 years old) in Ciego de Avila, Cuba, made his professional debut on January 26, 2008.

His career indicator is 25 fights, 22 wins (14 early victories), 2 losses and 1 draw. In total, the Cuban spent 104 rounds in the professional ring.

Height - 185 cm, arm span -? cm, weight - 90 kg. The "nickname" of the Cuban is The Rebel.

Mike Perez is a professional Cuban boxer who competes in the heavyweight and first heavyweight divisions. Winner of the 2011 Prizefighter 18 tournament. Winner of the WBC United States (USNBC) title.

Perez gained fame in 2011 when he won prestigious tournament, Prizefighter. In the quarterfinals, Mike defeated Curtson Manswell on points (20-1), having previously knocked down his more experienced opponent in the first round. In the semi-finals in the first round, Mike knocked out French boxer Gregory Toney in one minute. And in the final, the Cuban knocked out an experienced American boxer, Ty Fields, in forty seconds.

His significant rivals were Alexander Povetkin, Carlos Takam, Bryant Jennings.

Mike Perez is the least titled and least technical boxer in this tournament. There is not much to say about this boxer, but there is something to say about his opponent Mairis Briedis. Briedis is an excellent technical boxer puncher who has good boxing eerie experience of fighting with eminent boxers. Unlike his rival, Mairis has six titles, which means that he did not avoid heavy fights, but went to his goal over the heads of his rivals.

On February 21, Mairis Briedis in Riga will fight with the representative of South Africa Dani Venter. At stake in this fight will be the title of IBF Intercontinental Champion in the weight up to 90.7 kg. The broadcast of the boxing evening in Riga will begin on Match TV at 21.00 Moscow time.

Mairis Briedis, 31 years old

- Tell us a little about your sports career how it began.
- I started boxing at the end of the eighth grade, a classmate suggested going to boxing - he was bored there alone. I agreed. I switched from kickboxing to boxing.

- Did you have an amateur career in boxing, how did it develop? Were you included in the national teams?

- Yes, I was in the Latvian national team, won the national championship three times. This is later, after kickboxing.

And then they told me that there would be some kind of show program, there you can box off, earn some money. And I agreed, but it turned out that it was already an official rating battle in professional boxing.
That's how my amateur career flew, so to speak, by deaf ears. Well, that means it should have been. This is how he started his professional boxing career in 2009.

- When you started it, were you thinking about making money or setting specific sports goals?
- When there was a participation in that show program, I had to earn, as it seemed to me at that time, a lot of money - I don't remember how much it was, € 400, in my opinion.

Then there was an offer to box at the Bigger's Better tournament in heavyweight champion... I went there, first appeared on big television, on Eurosport.
And so it somehow went: I began to train more seriously, some more serious plans began to appear. That is, at first it was like this - just for fun - for the sake of sports, and then it went more professionally.

- Less than two years after the start professional career you have already begun to be attracted to sparring with the Klitschko brothers ...
- After one of the first fights, I almost immediately went to the training camp to Marko Huck, and then there was an offer to go to Ola Afolabi for sparring. He showed himself well there. And an offer came from Vitali Klitschko, in my opinion, when he was preparing for Tomasz Adamek.

Then he became interested in Vladimir too - and it turned out that he went to the Klitschko brothers for training camps several times, of course, when they needed a sparring partner of appropriate height.

- In those days when Vladimir was preparing for a fight in Moscow with Alexander Povetkin, did you work with him?
- Yes.

- In Russia, many still hope that there will be revenge between Klitschko and Povetkin. Of course, it is unlikely to take place, but hypothetically - what advice would you give to Alexander?
- I looked at it last battles, he added a lot - both physically and technically. But a lot depends on the judges: now he was boxing with Vakh, while he kept him at a distance and knitted in the first rounds, Alexander was very uncomfortable. But then the referee stopped allowing the Pole to hold the opponent. If this were the case with Klitschko, if he was not allowed to keep Povetkin, Vladimir would have been harder. And so he knits and hangs - the enemy is uncomfortable, he gets tired. Much depends on the referee who regulates the fight.

- That is, the tactics that Povetkin showed in the battle with Vakh would be correct if he were in the same sports uniform came out against Klitschko?
- Yes, now Povetkin is better than he was then: he has become more athletic. Their new fight it would be more interesting to watch.

- If we go back to your career, is the battle in Grozny against Manuel Charr worth it? Was there a thought that after that bright victory, very great prospects opened up?
- God forbid that it was so. But before, after the won titles, there were also promises: everything will be, everything will be. And the Americans promised, but so far something has not grown together.

Of course, after that fight, there was a lot of interest from the Russian side. This is a big plus, Russia is a big boxing market. Although many people from Russia go to America - I don't understand why - and they prepare and train there. Maybe there is a bigger market, a lot depends on the interest of television.

I was in America, there, of course, the mentality is completely different than ours - Latvians, Russians. They think completely differently, they know little about Russia, but they don't know exactly what Latvia is. But they know that they are the smartest, and there, overseas, they are not particularly developed people.

But I saw this after talking with several people. You cannot, of course, judge all of America by them. Nevertheless, boxers go there.

- The Russian superchampion Sergei Kovalev settled there. You were sparring with him too?
- Yes, I was at Kovalev's. Before the second fight with Jean Pascal, he again offered to come. And I would love it if there was no fight right now. But since there is a nine-hour time difference, we decided with the team that it would be wrong.

As far as I understand, Kovalev also has a problem with sparring partners there.

- And not only with them, but also with rivals: few people want to go into battle with an almost one hundred percent prospect of being on the floor. And also Pascal's coach, Freddie Roach, made an "advertisement" for Sergei, saying that he could not even imagine his power.
- Yes. And this is in America! Imagine it in Latvia! There are no sparring partners at all, you have to call from other countries. At the same time, one will be injured, then the other psychologically will not stand ...

But as for my upcoming fight, I think it will be interesting, not a passing one. Venter had two months of preparation and worked with good sparring partners. The fight will be serious, it will be a good test for me.

- Does the fact that the title of the IBF Intercontinental Champion will be at stake, does it mean that you have set yourself the goal of the championship belt according to the version of this organization? Its owner is Argentine Victor Emilio Ramirez.
- Now the situation there is not very clear. The Argentinian should box with (WBO champion) Denis Lebedev, but I think he has no options. Let's see if these belts unite. The main thing for me is nearest fight, and then we will think about further.

- Your words were quoted that you would not mind fighting with Lebedev or another Russian champion world - according to the WBC - by Grigory Drozd. Is your goal a title?
- This is the desire to test oneself in a duel with a serious opponent. Time goes by, and to box with someone unknown, to be a champion of what is unknown ...

It would be interesting to fight Lebedev and Drozd and show good boxing from Latvia. Of course, there is sports interest and ambitions.

- If you still have to choose: Drozd or Lebedev?
- These are two different boxers. Both psychologically and technically, one is left-handed, the other is right-handed. Serious preparation is needed for both. Whoever agrees will box. No difference.

- And in terms of style, someone can be more comfortable or more spectacular?
- I think everyone would have had a spectacular and spectacular fight.

- It is known about you that in parallel with your boxing career, you also work in the police. Is this a full-time job?
- When there is serious preparation for battles, of course, I work less, we negotiate with colleagues who will replace whom.

And when there is such an off-season - the usual work schedule, but I do not miss training in any case. So we have been working - already nine years in the police.

- You have a big family, four children. Who?
- All the boys. Twins from the first girl, and from his wife also two boys - one seven years old, the second two.

- After some time, they and you will have a choice of what to do. Will it be a sport?
- They are more in my mother, more creative, love art. Boxing, wrestling are needed in any case for self-defense, but for the heart, let them choose.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out for me: wherever I put my nose, I stayed there. But I fell in love with boxing and I still live with it and do not regret a single second.

I have seen a lot of things in my life, a lot of things have appeared thanks to him. There are a lot of pluses.

- One of them is that you can let children make this life choice.
- Yes. And I saw examples of how parents wanted something from their children, so that they become some kind of super champions, from the age of 6-7 they were forced to study.

Such a guy in kickboxing achieved success, his technique became good, but he himself did not want to practice - he dreamed of volleyball. And now he turned 18 years old, he left home and gave up this sport altogether. Probably playing volleyball for himself now.

These are some of the examples I've seen. So there is no need to give children what they do not want, to insist. You need to be able to do something, but for the soul, let him choose something.
Not everyone can be an athlete, not everyone can be a business person, not all geeks. Each has its own mission, but someone finds it, someone does not ...

Other news, materials and statistics can be viewed on boxing, as well as in the sports department groups on social networks

On Saturday, January 27, in Latvia at the "Arena Riga" Ukrainian Alexander Usik, who is the WBO world champion in the first heavy weight, will meet with the local boxer Mairis Briedis. The site "24" offers you Interesting Facts about the closest rival of the Ukrainian.

Mairis Briedis: early career

Briedis was born in the very heart of Latvia - in the capital of the country Riga. Recently, on January 13, he turned 33 years old. His height is 186 centimeters, and his weight is about 95 kilograms. The athlete got into boxing by accident - as Briedis convinces, he enrolled in the section to learn how to repulse hooligans, and a classmate who was bored alone offered him such an occupation. In addition, his appearance in the big ring, which went through kickboxing, is also interesting. It was in the latter sport that the Latvian became the European champion (2008) and received the bronze of the World Championship (2007).

Mairis Briedis in the 2009 European kickboxing final: video of the fight against Pole Rafael Aleksandrovich

I was told that there will be some kind of show program where you can box off and earn some money - as it seemed to me then, this is a significant amount: I don't remember exactly, but somewhere around 400 euros. And I agreed, but in the end it turned out that it was an official rating fight in professional boxing. This is how in 2009 he began his professional career in boxing, and his amateur career flew by deaf ears, so to speak. Then there was an offer to box at the Bigger's Better heavyweight tournament. I went there, first appeared on big television, at Eurosport. And so somehow it went: I began to train seriously, some more serious plans began to appear. at first it was for the sake of entertainment, for the sake of sports, and then it was followed more professionally,
- says Briedis.

Note that in his first fight, Mairis defeated his compatriot Raulis Rakilauskas by unanimous decision, and then in the next eight fights there were only knockout victories. Also from 2010 to 2013, he took part in the aforementioned Bigger's Better serial commercial tournament, where he reached the finals twice in 2010 and 2012, and defeated the Ukrainian Pavel Zhuravlev in them. In addition, in 2012 he received here the title of champion in the super final, and in 2013 won the super-fight.

How Mairis Briedis upset Kadyrov

In general, the Latvian in the pro-ring had 23 fights, in 18 of which he won ahead of schedule, that is, by knockout, and that he still does not know such a defeat. True, he has two fights to his credit, which will be very interesting for Ukrainian boxing fans.

So, in 2015, Mairis managed to "knock out" the very head of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, or rather, in Grozny, in their "Coliseum", inflict a spectacular defeat on the German Manuel Charr, who calls the Chechen leader his friend. Moreover, the owner of Chechnya personally invited a boxer of Lebanese origin and actually organized this fight, since he played for the local club "Ahmad". As a result, in the crowded arena in the presence of Kadyrov, Briedis knocked out the favorite of the local public at the end of the fifth round, and, as the Latvian media described that fight, “Charr collapsed like a sack on the boards and did not“ want ”to get up for a long time - the hall became quiet, especially stunned such a result was Ramzan Kadyrov himself. "

Briedis effectively knocked out Charr and Kadyrov's reaction: video

Also at one time (April 1, 2017) Briedis defeated the German Marko Huck, who was defeated by Alexander Usik on his way to the semifinals of the World Boxing Super Series. True, the Latvian boxer did not manage so brightly, but no less effectively - a victory with a huge advantage by unanimous decision of the judges (116: 111, 117: 110, 118: 109). Therefore, Mairis became the first boxer from Latvia to win the World Professional Championship title in one of the most prestigious versions (WBC).

In his last fight, which took place in the WBSS, Briedis. This confrontation took place at the "Arena Riga" and ended with a score of 116-110, 114-112, 115-111 in favor of the Latvian. By the way, in this arena, Mairis also defeated Nigerian Olanrewaju Durodol and South African Danny Venter - both by TKO. The aforementioned fights took place not so long ago - in 2016, and after them the Latvian as a whole had three more fights, including fights against Hook and Peres.

Mairis Briedis: meeting the Klitschko brothers and Usik

After the first few successful fights in the pro-ring, Briedis was noticed by coaches of more experienced boxers and began to invite them as a sparring partner for their wards. So, in 2011, Mairis ended up in the training camp of the Klitschko brothers and after only 16 times sparred with both the elder Vitaly and the younger Vladimir, including, since he very much resembles him not only in appearance, but also in the manner of fighting and dimensions ...

Mairis Briedis next to Vitali Klitschko and Alexander Usik

During one of these trainings, the Latvian got acquainted with Alexander Usik. Since then, the athletes have been on fairly good terms, keep in touch and even attend each other's fights.

We add that the work with the famous Ukrainian brothers significantly influenced the manner of the Latvian fighting - in particular, experts note that he took over a lot from the Ukrainian and also controls his opponent with a jab.

What experts say about Mairis Briedis

According to many experts, Briedis is the person who has the most chances to defeat Usyk, and his boxing intelligence, cunning and long arms can contribute to this.

The fighting style of the Latvian is similar to that of Usik. I helped Myris prepare for Hook, and I think that Usyk will be an interesting fight, since both of them have enough tricks: high-speed boxers with very strong blow... The result will be either an intense high-speed battle or a viscous "chess" game,
- notes former boxer Sergey Radchenko.

Most bright moments Briedis's career: video

Experts also focus on the Latvian style - in particular, he acts from defense, reading the opponent, so it is very difficult to resist such an opponent. It is noted that Briedis reads the opponent, like a computer, and instantly adjusts himself to him, and can also send him to a heavy knockout.

“The Latvian knows how to endure, he can wait for his moment at least 11 rounds. It is difficult to look good with him, and he is not very clear,” noted Alexander Belenky, an authoritative expert in the world of boxing.

LastRound. rutalks about the new Russian-speaking world champion.

On April 1, in Dortmund, Germany, Mairis Briedis defeated Marko Hook by unanimous decision to become the World Heavyweight Champion in the prestigious WBC version. Right now, all four world champions in this weight category speak Russian, and the weight category itself has become one of the most interesting in boxing for the first time in a long time.

European Kickboxing Champion

The story of the beginning of Mairis's relationship with fighting sports is rather commonplace - in the eighth grade, a guy came to the boxing section to learn how to respond to bullies. V documentary "Match TV" the boxer recalls it this way: "Not that they were bullied, they tried to beat them en masse, and I was somehow afraid to answer always."

Briedis attended the boxing section, but achieved his first success in kickboxing - once Mairis became the champion of Latvia and Europe. This was the fighter's greatest kickboxing achievement, after which the decision was made to return to the world without kicking. In 2009, the Latvian made his professional boxing debut under quite interesting circumstances.

Missed my professional debut

The fact is that Mairis was not warned about participating in a professional fight. In an interview with Gazeta.ru, the fighter told about it as follows.

“I was told that there will be some kind of show program, there you can box, earn some money. And I agreed, but it turned out that it was already an official rating fight in professional boxing.This is how my amateur career has gone, so to speak, deafening. "

In that battle, the Latvian defeated compatriot Raulis Rakilauskas by unanimous decision. Already in the eighth fight, Briedis faced the winner of Mike Tyson and former world heavyweight title contender Danny Williams. By that time, the American's career was already in a steep peak, so Mairis's victory did not become a sensation - a technical knockout in the second round.

Works as a police officer

Before starting his professional career, Briedis worked as a security guard. Mairis himself said that he was making good money, but in a rather small Latvia, rumors quickly spread that the European kickboxing champion was working in a not very prestigious job.

Foreign Minister Maris Riekstins intervened in the situation and offered Briedis a job in the police. First, the European champion had to patrol the streets, now Mairis has risen to the rank of senior lieutenant. This year the Latvian will celebrate ten years of work in the authorities. Of course, a professional career does not always allow Briedis to be always on the guard of order. But the boxer finds a way out - negotiates with colleagues.

“When there is a serious preparation for battles, of course, I work less, we negotiate with colleagues who will replace whom. And when there is such an off-season - the usual work schedule, but I do not miss training in any case. "

Sparring with brothers Klitschko and Sergey Kovalev

Less than two years have passed since the beginning of Mayris's professional career, when he ended up in Vitali Klitschko's training camp. Briedis himself said that he was worried about the upcoming sparring - after all, he had to share the ring with the world champion from the heavier weight category... Apparently, the parties were satisfied with the joint work, since in the future Mairis was involved as a sparring partner of Vladimir Klitschko. Considering the fact that Briedis is very similar in size to Alexander Povetkin and is only a couple of centimeters behind the Russian in height, it is not difficult to guess that the Latvian was in the Klitschko training camp before the fight with Vityaz. In total, Mairis was in the Klitschko brothers' camps about 16 times.

Briedis sparred with Dmitry Kudryashov and Sergey Kovalev. But, what is even more interesting, literally after the first fights in his career, the Latvian received an invitation from Marko Huck. A few years later, the Latvian will deprive Hook of one of the last opportunities to win the world champion belt.

Knocked out Manuel Charr in Chechnya

In 2013, Briedis won the IBA belt, but gained fame only two years after his trip to Chechnya. Mairis beautifully knocked out former world heavyweight title challenger Manuel Charr, who was flirting with Russia at the time and even signed a contract with Andrei Ryabinsky. After that fight, the Latvian was learned in Russia, and the boxer himself rose seriously in the leading world ratings.

Beat the offender Dmitry Kudryashov

Almost a year after the victory over Charr Briedis, already in the status of one of the contenders for the belt in the first heavyweight, entered the ring against the offender Dmitry Kudryashov Olanrevaju Durodola. The Latvian acted unusually boldly and was not afraid to hack to death with a Nigerian puncher. In an uncompromising duel, where Durodola managed to shake Mairis several times, Briedis celebrated the victory by TKO in the ninth round. The Latvian dumped Durodola, after which he scored brutally at the ropes. But, most importantly, the boxer showed a truly spectacular and memorable performance in front of his native audience. This was the most important and penultimate step towards the title.

Beat Marko Hook in Germany

After defeating Durodola, the title fight was just a matter of time. Briedis was not averse to a fight with Denis Lebedev and Grigory Drozd, calling Russian boxers "birds", which he still cannot catch, Grigory Drozd offered Mairis to learn politeness, and the promoter of the Latvian boxer said interesting things. For example, Al Siesta (promoter of Briedis) told that the fee of his ward is almost two times less than the fee of the same Durodola, and with an appropriate offer the team will be ready to go to Russia.

As it turned out, title fight was waiting for Mairis in Germany. Whoever heard about the duel between Fedor Chudinov and Felix Sturm should imagine what awaited the Latvian. Home judging and various tricks from local promoters. As it turned out, Briedis also happened to be in an unpleasant situation. The famous cutman Dmitry Luchnikov in his blog on Allboxing.ru told quite interesting story about the scandal on the eve of the fight. The procedure for examining gloves before a fight is quite ordinary, but, at one time, due to disagreements on the issue of gloves, a duel between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana almost broke down. Roughly a similar situation occurred here - originally standard and identical for both boxers, Grant gloves differed significantly from each other. Hook's gloves were made with offset padding and looked a bit narrower. By the way, not so long ago Sergey Kovalev complained about Grant. However, Briedis's team agreed to take the fight at their own risk, believing that even tougher gloves would not help Hook.

And so it happened - even the judges did not help the home fighter. Marco looked noticeably tired of boxing and even used his dirty tricks somehow lazily. Briedis wanted to win more so strongly that one of the judges counted the fight with a score of 118-109, giving the Latvian 9 rounds out of 12. The other two billed 116-111 and 117-110. In addition to the vacant WBC belt, Briedis added the IBO title and sent the first heavy weight v interesting time... Time of unification fights between four Russian-speaking champions.

Text: Bogdan Domansky

LastRound. rutalks about the second Russian-speaking world champion in the World Boxing Super Series.

On April 1, in Dortmund, Germany, Mairis Briedis defeated Marko Hook by unanimous decision to become the World Heavyweight Champion in the prestigious WBC version. Right now, four out of five world champions in this weight category speak Russian, and the weight category itself has become one of the most interesting in boxing for the first time in a long time. The World Boxing Super Series, designed to identify the strongest heavyweight in the world, came in very handy. Briedis is one of the main favorites of the tournament, and here's what you need to know about him.

European Kickboxing Champion

The story of the beginning of Mairis's relationship with fighting sports is rather commonplace - in the eighth grade, a guy came to the boxing section to learn how to respond to bullies. In the documentary "Match TV" the boxer recalls it this way: "Not that they were bullied, they tried to beat them en masse, and I was somehow afraid to answer always."

Missed my professional debut

The fact is that Mairis was not warned about participating in a professional fight. In an interview with Gazeta.ru, the fighter told about it as follows.

“I was told that there will be some kind of show program, there you can box, earn some money. And I agreed, but it turned out that it was already an official rating fight in professional boxing.
This is how my amateur career has gone, so to speak, deafening. "

Works as a police officer

“When there is a serious preparation for battles, of course, I work less, we negotiate with colleagues who will replace whom. And when there is such an off-season - the usual work schedule, but I do not miss training in any case. "

Sparring with brothers Klitschko and Sergey Kovalev

Less than two years have passed since the beginning of Mayris's professional career, when he ended up in Vitali Klitschko's training camp. Briedis himself said that he was worried about the upcoming sparring - after all, he had to share the ring with the world champion from a heavier weight category. Apparently, the parties were satisfied with the joint work, since in the future Mairis was involved as a sparring partner of Vladimir Klitschko. Considering Briedis's physique and the fact that he is very similar in size to Alexander Povetkin and is only a couple of centimeters behind the Russian in height, it is not difficult to guess that the Latvian was in the Klitschko training camp before the fight with Vityaz. In total, Mairis was in the Klitschko brothers' camps about 16 times.

Knocked out Manuel Charr in Chechnya

Beat the offender Dmitry Kudryashov

Beat Marko Hook in Germany

As it turned out, the title fight was waiting for Mairis in Germany. Whoever heard about the duel between Fedor Chudinov and Felix Sturm should imagine what awaited the Latvian. Home judging and various tricks from local promoters. As it turned out, Briedis also happened to be in an unpleasant situation. The well-known cutman Dmitry Luchnikov in his blog on Allboxing.ru told a rather interesting story about the scandal on the eve of the fight. The procedure for examining gloves before a fight is quite ordinary, but, at one time, due to disagreements on the issue of gloves, a duel between Floyd Mayweather and Marcos Maidana almost broke down. Roughly a similar situation occurred here - initially standard and identical for both boxers, Grant gloves differed significantly from each other. Hook's gloves were made with offset padding and looked a bit narrower. By the way, not so long ago Sergey Kovalev complained about Grant. However, Briedis's team agreed to take the fight at their own risk, believing that even tougher gloves would not help Hook.

And so it happened - even the judges did not help the home fighter. Marco looked noticeably tired of boxing and even used his dirty tricks somehow lazily. Briedis wanted to win more so strongly that one of the judges counted the fight with a score of 118-109, giving the Latvian 9 rounds out of 12. The other two billed 116-111 and 117-110. In addition to the vacant WBC belt, Briedis added the IBO title and sent the first heavyweight title at an exciting time. Time of unification fights between four Russian-speaking champions.

Today in Riga, Brides will meet with Mike Perez, a man we know from the tragic fight with Magomed Abdusalamov and a quick knockout defeat from Alexander Povetkin, after which the Cuban rethinked his career. The winner of this fight in the semifinals will meet with Alexander Usik, and there is a suspicion that the main denouement of the entire tournament may occur in this pair.

Text: Bogdan Domansky