No doubt about that. I've had Mairis as top 5 p4p for years. I've taken a lot of criticism for that everytime I've brought it up. But I dont care, I'm right and the haters are wrong. Sport is a results oriented business. His resume is stacked. He has 1 close loss to the best p4p fighter of his generation and cleaned out the 200 pound division. I cant argue with that and it's pointless for the haters to argue with it. He has big power. Very well schooled boxing skills. Knows and understands how to fight. The problem is hes Latvian and a Cruiserweight. So nobody cares.
Well said. I'd still love to see him fight Gassiev. I also think that Briedis, if he moved up, would starch the durable HW's like Joyce and Chisora. He should be at HW by now.
Mairis Briedis 26 (20)-1 IBF, WBO, and WBC cruiserweight champion with wins over Krysztof Glowacki, Yuniel Dorticos, Marco Huck, Mike Perez, Manuel Charr, Oranwelaju Durradola, Noel Gevor Mikealyan, Artur Mann
He is underestimated, considering that he won the CW world boxing super series 2. The only defeat in his career is from Usyk (it is not a shame to lose for the better). Good resume, good skill, good ring IQ,...
He is definitely underestimated. Only loss a very close fight to Usyk and no shame in that. From a small EE country yes is much overlooked.
Tinman, I promise you, life will become much easier when you just comprehend that your opininon isn’t fact. Unlike yourself who’ve probably never heard about him until his fight against Usyk,I’ve seen every single Briedis fight available. He’s an exciting(though can be dull sometimes), elite level talent, but one close fight against p4p top guy doesn’t automatically make you p4p top5. Yes, he did run Usyk close, but he also had a close fight with Noel Gevor, whom you’ve never heard about and whom he probably should have lost to. Yes, he has been overlooked, just like most cruiserweights. But his activity doesn’t help that either. Since his win over Dorticos, his #1 priority has been some bizarre obsession over Jake Paul when he should’ve been rematching Gevor, pursuing unifications with Okolie and Makabu, if not a move to HW. After his mandatory defence against Opetaia(who’s a solid opponent), let’s hope fights will become reality.
