By Alexey Sukachev
Latvian cruiserweight hopeful Mairis Briedis continued his reign of terror over European second-tier opposition yesterday in Riga, Latvia, in front of a packed arena and partisan crowd, which has well supported his every move in the ring. Briedis, 27, the biggest star produced by the Bigger’s Better Boxing Promotions since its founding three years ago, cruised through three different opponents, scoring two stoppages along the way, to claim the win in 2012 season’s finale and to improve his record to 17-1, with 12 KOs.
Bigger’s Better is a Prizefighter-like series of tournaments, which features limited heavyweights and cruiserweights alongside stars of adjacent sports like muay thai and kickboxing, in short three-round fights under the Marquess of Queensberry rules. Each tourney starts with four quarterfinals; then there are semifinals, which are followed by the final. Three-minute rounds are in play.
This particular competition featured the winners of several previous Bigger’s Better events, mostly of 2012. Briedis, who has previously taken over two tourneys in 2010 and in 2012, and former Ukrainian Olympian Alexey Mazikin were heavy favorites to collide in the final but it was Frenchman Fabrice Aurieng, who has soundly upset the odds by winning over Mazikin in the first semifinal. Meanwhile, Briedis was on a fast run, crushing both Evgenios Lazaridis and Sergey Maslobojev in the second rounds. Aurieng was a tougher opponent to deal with but the local hero has pulled it through even though the Frenchman was considerably bigger than cruiserweight.
Star referee Steve Smoger helped German Klaus Hagemann to do the officiating during the show, which also contained a kickboxing title attraction between two female combatants.
LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
1. Alexey Mazikin (Ukraine, 17-7-2, 4 KOs)
2. Evgueny Orlov (Russia, 17-12-1, 9 KOs)
3. Wojciech Jastrzebski (Poland, 4-2)
4. Fabrice Aurieng (France, 9-4, 3 KOs)
5. Sergey Maslobojev (Lithuania, 3-2)
6. Konstantins Gluhovs (Latvia, 3-0, 1 KO)
7. Mairis Briedis (Latvia, 14-1, 10 KOs)
8. Evgenios Lazarific (Greece, 5-1, 3 KOs)
FULL RESULTS
Quartefinals
1. Mazikin (18-7, 4 KOs) SD 3 Orlov (17-13-1, 9 KOs)
2. Aurieng (10-4, 3 KOs) UD 3 Jastrzebski (4-3)
3. Maslobojev (4-2) UD 3 Gluhovs (3-1)
4. Briedis (15-1, 11 KOs) KO 2 Lazaridis (5-2, 3 KOs). Lazaridis was down twice in the first and once in the second – for a count.
Semifinals
5. Aurieng (11-4, 3 KOs) UD 3 Mazikin (18-8, 4 KOs)
6. Briedis (16-1, 12 KOS) TKO 2 Maslobojev. Maslobojev was down once in the second after a major left hook by Briedis, followed by several punches after.
Final
7. Briedis (17-1, 12 KOs) UD 3 Aurieng (11-5, 3 KOs)