Tonight in Riga, Latvia, defending WBC cruiserweight champ Mairis Breidis retained his belt and also advanced in the WBSS tournament by way of a unanimous decision victory over Mike Perez. Local hero Breidis, now 23-0(18) won by scores of 116-110, 115-111 and 114-112. Perez, who was mightily disappointed by his defeat, is now 22-3(14).
Tonight’s fight was far from a classic, with an almost shocking amount of holding witnessed, with defending champ Breidis being guilty of initiating most of it. There was a clash of heads in the third-round, with Breidis suffering a nasty cut to his left eye. Perez was docked a point by the referee.
The messy, frustrating fight continued, with Cuba’s Irish-based Perez looking at the referee on a number of occasions, hoping to see the champion at least warned for his excessive holding – to no avail, until the tenth, when Breidis was finally docked a point for his continual infringement.
In between his headlocks and his holding, Breidis threw and landed some classy shots to the head, but the champion failed to cover himself in too much glory. Still, Breidis’ army of fans enjoyed tonight’s contest, with no booing taking place. There was no standout round of action, the fight being one that was tough to watch.
Afterwards, Perez expressed his unhappiness in an interview, saying how he had only expected a fair fight and a fair referee; both of which he said he was denied. Breidis was all smiles in victory and he now looks ahead to a WBSS match-up with the unbeaten Oleksandr Usyk.
Hopefully this fight will be a much better, more action-packed and entertaining affair.
On tonight’s under-card, former WBO cruiserweight champ Krzysztof Glowacki improved to 28-1(18) with a fifth-round stoppage of Italy’s Leonardo Bruzzese. The Polish star was in complete control throughout, dropping his 18-3 foe twice before getting the stoppage.
Glowacki is a backup fighter in the WBSS tournament and he will be hoping to get his chance by way of another fighter having to pull out.