Mairis Briedis is thinking big after his victory over Yuniel Dorticos on Saturday in Munich. Literally.
The 35-year-old Latvian says he’s thinking about following in the footsteps of Oleksandr Usyk by moving up to heavyweight after winning his second cruiserweight title by a majority decision in the World Boxing Super Series final.
Usyk handed Briedis his only loss, a close majority decision in January 2018.
“I am considering a move to heavyweight,” Briedis said. “But right now I will rest a bit before I make any decisions.”
He earned a rest. He clearly outboxed his Cuban opponent, which was reflected on the two 117-111 scorecards. The third judge had it 114-114.
Briedis took Dorticos’ 200-pound belt with the victory.
“It feels fantastic to have won the Muhammad Ali Trophy, it feels like a dream,” he said. “Me, my team, my family have been waiting for such a long time for the trophy. Thank God we did it, and I am really happy about it.”
He went on: “In the first rounds I felt how dangerous Dorticos is, but I got used to his style, and in the later rounds we didn’t risk too much, we just boxed what we had prepared. I’m very satisfied with my performance.
“… I hope I produced a fight for the Latvian fans to be proud of me. The fans couldn’t be at the arena, but at least through TV I hopefully brought them emotions.”
The loss to Usyk was an emotional setback for Briedis (27-1, 19 KOs). Who knows? Maybe he’ll get another crack at his rival in the sport’s glamour division.
“I was down after the Usyk fight,” he said. “Usyk was better that night, and it is what it is. But looking back I can see that a lot of things around me and in my team have changed. And everything has gone better since that fight.
“I really don’t know if I would have won that night if my career would have advanced the way it has.”
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