Boxing to See This Month – March 2020; Dorticos vs Briedis Card
2020 continues to roll along and now it’s time to take a look at the boxing schedule for March. After the amazing showdown of Fury/Wilder II, the boxing world is slowing down just a tad. March is still packed with many cards. The card to see for March though will air on DAZN in which Cuban cruiserweight Yuniel Dorticos meets Mairis Briedis in the finals of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS.) The winner will walk away with the coveted Muhammed Ali Trophy, the IBF title, and The Ring Cruiserweight championship.
Background on the WBSS
This marks the second season of the WBSS Cruiserweight Tournament. The season ran from September 2018 to May 2019 thus denoted 2018-2019 World Boxing Super Series. The first season’s champion was Oleksandr Usyk, unifying all four major titles. Usyk has since vacated the titles to move up to heavyweight, leaving a huge void in the division. Both fighters participated in an eight-man tournament making it to the finals. This setup The Ring title, and IBF title matchup we will see Saturday March 21, 2020.
Yuniel Dorticos
Yuniel Dorticos (24-1 with 22KOs) is known as “The KO Doctor” and with good reason. 22 of his 24 victories have come by way of knockout. In order to earn his spot in the finals, Dorticos knocked out Andrew Tabiti in the 10th round on June 15, 2019. Dorticos currently sits at number two in The Ring cruiserweight rankings. With KO power available at any second, this will be an exciting matchup with Dorticos looking to make a huge statement, showing he is the man to be at cruiserweight.
Mairis Briedis
Mairis Briedis (26-1 with 19KOs) is just as dangerous with his hands, sitting at 19 knockouts of his 26 career victories. His lone defeat is to the long-time king of the division, Oleksandr Usyk in January 2018. Since then Briedis has reeled off three straight victories heading into this WBSS finals matchup with Dorticos. In his semi-final bout on the same date as Dorticos’, Briedis ended the night of Krysztof Glowacki via third round TKO after several controversial events.
In the second round Briedis elbowed Glowacki in the jaw, dropping him. At the end of the third round, the referee continued to allow action after the bell because he did not hear the bell. During the time Briedis dropped Glowacki and won via TKO. Briedis was awarded the WBO cruiserweight title but was later stripped due to refusing to defend in an immediate rematch, opting to sit out and wait for the WBBS finals. If Briedis is victorious, a rematch with Glowacki already has an amazing back story built in.
