The afternoon from the old country saw two world title fights before the huge PPV from PBC in the evening.
If you chose to watch DAZN live from Germany- you were able to see a good matchup.
If you picked ESPN+ from England, well, at least it was short.
From Munich Germany, what could be the final event from the World Boxing Super Series crowned the winner of their cruiserweight tournament as top-seeded Mairis Breidis defeated second-seed Yunier Dorticos via a majority decision to win the tournament and lift the IBF championship from Dorticos as well.
It was a fight that saw heavy punches exchanged, yet one that had its tactical parts as well with Briedis using the right hand to land counterpunches against the heavier-hitting and aggressive Dorticos that shifted the tide his way in a close fight.
I scored Briedis a 116-112 winner and thought the decision was a fair one.
I'd like to see Briedis stay in the division, where he is the top fighter for now, but he could seek bigger heavyweight money as the other three champions (WBA Arsen Goulamirian, WBC Illunga Makubu, and WBO title is vacant) aren't likely to be bouts that fans crave.
As for Dorticos, a rematch against Briedis down the road is not out of the question, and a fight against any of the other champions would be favored.
As for the WBSS, which has seen financial problems, it'll be interesting to see if it survives.
I would imagine that if it would continue, the purses could drop, and with that drop would go any incentive for fighters to not control their opponents for their next three fights.
Even it should continue, I'm not sure that there is a fit with many divisions for a compelling elite tournament.
Top Rank refuses to send their fighters, PBC only sends very few and usually in the lower weight divisions, and Matchroom, Sauerland, and other European promoters do participate, but they might wonder if it is worth the time spent, if their fighters aren't fighting the best.
When you consider the promotional ties involved, only two divisions make sense to run a tournament with the best fighters in the game.
Junior bantamweight could work with Matchroom controlling the best of the division with Juan Francisco Estrada, Roman Gonzalez, and Srisaket Sor Rungvisai and if WBO champion Kazuto Ioka and the latest Japanese phenom Kosei Tanaka could be added, all the best fighters would be available except IBF champion Jerwin Ancajas, who is associated with Top Rank.
Flyweight would be available with three excellent champions in Julio Cesar Martinez, Moruti Mthalane, and Artem Dalakian and might make a star with an eventual winner.
Other than those two, only junior featherweight would even be close to having the elite and that would have to be worked out with PBC as they have the best of the division other than WBA/IBF champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev.
Unless the WBSS would be willing to settle for a lesser tournament with contenders and prospects, I don't see any other divisions that would work out.
It would be a sad end for a series that gave world stages and made stars out of Oleksandr Usyk, Callum Smith, Naoya Inoue, and Josh Taylor, but that could be how it ends...
As for Josh Taylor, the quicker we can move away from IBF mandatory contender Apinun Khongsong the better as Taylor retained his WBA and IBF junior welterweight titles with a first-round knockout with the first significant punch that he landed to Khongsong's body.
Taylor, wearing Bay City Rollers style Tartan, left Khongsong writhing in pain on the floor and will unify all four titles in the division in his next fight with WBC and WBO champion Jose Ramirez.
In the boxing challenge, Ramon Malpica and I each scored three points to move our totals to 117-109.
No comments:
Post a Comment