By: Shane Willoughby
The Latvian did not let his country down. In front of the thousands in attendance at the Riga Arena, Mairis Breidis proved that he still has the power and stops Glowacki in the 3rd round.
One of the most exciting 3 rounds in the history of boxing; it’s difficult to know where to start. Let’s begin with the craziness of 2nd round.
After a pretty basic 1st, the 2nd round exploded into action with both going for broke. Someone must have told them that this can’t go the distance. They both landed massive shots on one another. But what happened next was probably the most bizarre thing in boxing history.
Both Briedis and Glowacki went into a clinch where it appeared that Glowacki hit Briedis behind the head. Instead of waiting for the referee, Breidis followed up with a flying elbow. Dana White you might need to sign these guys up for the UFC.
The elbow sent the polish men crashing to the canvas, a perfect knockout. At one stage it looked as if he couldn’t get up. But once he finally got up Breidis smelt blood and went for the finish. After being deducted a point, it was like the Latvian didn’t care about the scorecard anymore.
Briedis dropped Glowacki too more times in the round; this time with punches. The entire crowd rose to the feet screaming for their hero to finish the fight. What happened next was remarkable.
They both started trading again in the middle of the ring. The bell goes to signal the end of a fantastic round and the fight continues. Both guys refused to stop throwing punches and Briedis drops Glowacki again. 30 seconds after the bell rang.
In the defence of the fighters, the arena was very load so they may not have heard. Where was the ref, you may ask? Not judging the fight that’s for sure.
Glowacki made it to his feet and made it to his corner and that was finally the end of the round. But it wasn’t the end of the action. Thinking that the fight couldn’t possibly provide more drama, and they would take a bit of a rest. Nope.
Both men cane out again for the kill. After being on the verge of defeat, the WBO champion landed a great shot on the home fighter and Briedis looked to be out on his feet. But the Latvian done the veteran thing and held on.
Once back to his senses, back on the attack. Briedis went back in the middle to trade off again, but this time it saw the end of the bout.
The home town fighter gave his fans something to cheer about, permanently landing a brilliant combination to end the fight and a fantastic night of boxing.
Not so much for the the many polish fans, who were livid at the invisible referee. But at least they don’t have to travel that far home.
Yunier Dorticos wins the IBF championship by knocking out Andrew Tabiti in the 10th round. Dorticos has now advanced to the WBSS final and become a two time Cruiserweight Champion.
Like most fights at the top level, the fight started very cagey with both men not throwing much. But the Cuban was trying to press the action but couldn’t quite keep up with the speed of Tabiti.
But like a true veteran, Dorticos started putting money in the bank by going to the body.
Eventually, Tabiti started to slow down and the fight started to got much cleaner.
The 6th round was definetly a game changer. When Dorticos got cut from an accidental headclash and Tabiti got a point deducted for a excessive holding.
After the fight became much more exciting, both landing good shots but Dorticos’ body work in the early rounds paid dividend as Tabiti started to hold his feet.
Knowing that he was probably down on the cards, the American started to trade up with Dorticos and was getting some success.
However, he traded one time too much and the KO doctor gave out an amazing prescription. The right hand landed flush on the undefeated fighter and sent him to the canvas and Tabiti wasn’t able to get up.
Now the new Cruiserweight Champion has cemented his name in the history books and moves onto the final and into a unification with Mairis Braidis.
