Mairis Briedis was born on 13 January 1985 and is a Latvian professional boxer.
32 Facts About Mairis Briedis
2.
Mairis Briedis is a three-time cruiserweight world champion, having held the IBF and Ring titles from 2020 to 2022; the WBC title from 2017 to 2018; and the WBO title in 2019.
3.
Mairis Briedis was awarded the Order of the Three Stars in 2017.
4.
At the age of 24, after previously serving as a Latvian State Police officer in Riga, Briedis turned professional in 2009.
5.
Mairis Briedis racked up multiple wins in his home country and abroad, including a second-round technical knockout of former heavyweight title challenger Danny Williams.
6.
Mairis Briedis captured the IBA cruiserweight title along the way.
7.
Mairis Briedis' first fight of note came in 2015, when he moved up in weight and traveled to Russia to face former heavyweight title challenger Manuel Charr.
8.
Mairis Briedis knocked out his much bigger opponent with a single punch in the fifth round.
9.
In 2016, Mairis Briedis knocked out hard-hitting Nigerian Olanrewaju Durodola in a slug fest, to capture the WBC Silver cruiserweight title.
10.
Mairis Briedis was ringside for the fight and congratulated the victorious Bellew in his dressing room afterwards.
11.
Mairis Briedis then fought in the UK for the first time in a stay busy fight against Simon Vallily on the undercard of Bellew's first title defence against BJ Flores.
12.
On 1 April 2017 Mairis Briedis captured the vacant WBC cruiserweight title by defeating Huck via unanimous decision.
13.
Mairis Briedis was able to outbox the former two-time champion and prevent him from having any success on the inside during the fight.
14.
Some boxing pundits had Mairis Briedis winning every round in the fight.
15.
The IBO title, previously held by Huck, became vacant due to Mairis Briedis not paying the sanctioning fees.
16.
On 2 June 2017 Mairis Briedis announced that he would take part in the inaugural World Boxing Super Series, where the winner would receive a grand prize as well as the Muhammad Ali Trophy.
17.
Mairis Briedis described the bracket style tournament as the 'Champions League of boxing'.
18.
Mairis Briedis defeated Perez by UD over twelve rounds.
19.
Mairis Briedis was docked a point during round ten for excessive holding.
20.
Mairis Briedis had the next fight against Usyk, following the latter's win over Marco Huck.
21.
Usyk came in at 199.5 pounds and Mairis Briedis weighed 199.1 pounds.
22.
On 28 June 2018, Mairis Briedis began training for his next bout, which was speculated to take place on the undercard of the WBSS final on 21 July at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow.
23.
Mairis Briedis's opponent was later announced to be French boxer Brandon Deslaurier.
24.
Mairis Briedis was confirmed as the WBSS final substitute in case either Usyk or Murat Gassiev could not compete.
25.
Mairis Briedis went the ten round distance, defeating Deslaurier via UD.
26.
Mairis Briedis won by TKO in the third round but appeared to intentionally foul his opponent with an elbow strike after being hit on the back of the neck in the second.
27.
Mairis Briedis was scheduled to face Yuniel Dorticos on 26 September 2020 at the Plazamedia Broadcasting Center in Munich, Germany, for the WBSS tournament final.
28.
Mairis Briedis beat Yuniel Dorticos by majority decision in their 12-round contest on Saturday 26 September 2020 at Plazamedia Broadcasting Center in Munich.
29.
Mairis Briedis was booked to defend his IBF and The Ring cruiserweight titles against the former WBO International titlist and one-time IBO Cruiserweight title challenger Artur Mann.
30.
Mairis Briedis made quick work of his opponent, beating him by technical knockout near the end of the third round.
31.
Mairis Briedis was scheduled to make his second IBF and The Ring title defense against the undefeated mandatory title challenger Jai Opetaia on 6 April 2022, at the TBD venue in Australia.
32.
Mairis Briedis had a late surge in the fight, during which he managed to break Opetaia's jaw, but was unable to win enough rounds on the judges' scorecards.