Comments Thread For: Mairis Briedis Wipes Out Artur Mann in Three Rounds

[Slowhand]

As maybe the only guy on here who actually enjoys this division, this was what I expected. Briedis is seriously talented. Mann was... well... not.

CW was my favourite division with Usyk and Gassiev still in it, but it cooled down when those two left and the top guys stopped fighting each other. Briedis should fight Okolie or jump to HW to make some money, heŽd be a nightmare for many of those slower super HWs. He better hurry tho.

[Boxing Logic]

No way in hell Breidis is top-10.15 P4P fighter for last 5 years.

Maybe 20-30... this is the worst division in the history of boxing.

Yes it is the worst history in the division of boxing, but we're not talking about the history of boxing, we're talking about the last 5 years.

For the 5-10 years before that, the guys who completely bossed the division were Marco Huck, Dennis Lebedev, and Steve Cunningham. It was not a deep division, but it had three very good fighters. Then what happened?

Undefeated Kristoph Glowacki KO'd Marco Huck, ending his reign. Marco Huck had previously gone up to heavyweight and arguably given Povetkin his first loss. Povetkin has a KO win over Dillian Whyte, and Marco Huck is the only fighter to arguably beat him in his prime who was his size. Povetkin's is a very very skilled boxer puncher, with a huge punch, whose biggest flaw was competing in the wrong division his whole career against bigger guys. The only guys to give him official losses during his prime were Klitschko and Joshua. Maybe just Klitschko, really.

Undefeated Usyk dominated undefeated Glowacki.

Undefeated Murat Gassiev, "the GGG of cruiserweight," beat Dennis Lebedev.

Undefeated KO artist Yunier Dorticos found KO artist Kudryashov and KO'd him.

Gassiev KO'd Dorticos.

Usyk shutout and TKO'd Huck, then he beat Briedis, then he shut out Gassiev.

So that division had more top players, either longtime dominant champs of the division, or undefeated new players, fighting each other than any division in recent memory. Not just fighting each other, but with results that elevated fighters, namely Usyk and Briedis. Within all the triangle theory, the only boxer missing in the entire division from Usyk and Briedis' history is Steve Cunningham, who was the first boxer to beat Huck. But they have a connection to every other relevant fighter in that division, in its most stacked era, and except for when they fought each other, they dominated everyone in the most stacked era.

Briedis also KO'd some "regular" champ at heavyweight who sucked but was durable against top heavyweights but not vs him. So it all adds up to quite a lot. Huck's performance vs Povetkin at heavyweight says an awful lot.

But I mean, Huck was a big money generator in Germany. So... it's all bs but Im just saying, if we're talking who is the best WWE wrestler and comparing resumes, then this cruiserweight era was impressive in that same way. Briedis is a draw in Latvia so naturally he is the lone opponent who Usyk looked poor against and made look good. But I'm just saying, based on that alone, let alone all the other connections, Briedis is a top P4P fighter.

I mean, Usyk is the clear P4P king based on resume and eye test. No robbery wins. No waiting for guys to get old. He made the jump from cruiser to heavyweight. There is no competition between his resume and anyone else's. Which means, if you believe the scorecards, Briedis almost beat the P4P king. Ergo, Briedis is in the P4P discussion.

Now granted, if you actually watch the "fight." Briedis won like 3 rounds. But Im just saying.

[Albanianboxing]

Briedis is a really great and underrated fighter!!! Maris can really fight!!!

[landotter]

Briedis has been a fringe top 10-15 p4p fighter for last 5 years. Shame that the 200lb division isnt given more acclaim in America, where it has zero representation. It goes to show how GREAT a fighter like Usyk is to go on the road and fight a master like Briedis ahd decision him in his backyard. Truly exceptional.

Briedis knocks Okolie out within 7-10 rounds. Briedis basically exposes his low IQ similar to Fury to Wilder and Usyk to AJ.

That is kind of how I feel, but I do not want to do the "guilt by association" type of thing for Okolie. He is unproven and seems to be the one trick pony with his power punch, but until someone exposes him I want to try to give him the benefit of the doubt. It is just hard after seeing Wilder just get battered by someone who knows how to box and defend himself (let's not forget, if Ortiz had any head movement, he would have won both fights against Wilder without losing a round), and to a lesser degree watching Efe Ajagba get basically shut out by Frank Sanchez it is hard not to go there. Briedis should sign the big fight and should be the huge favorite.

[Someone88]

Wow! Yes! Good win for Briedis!