Accomplishments wise, he’s not, he held belts at Crusierweight and made some defences, never moved up to heavyweight for some reason, the only conclusion is that he mustn’t’ve been confident in himself since that’d’ve been better for his legacy and financially also with nothing to lose since everyone underestimates Crusierweights moving up, but had he shown up at his best and confident, I could see him beating prime Joshua, Wilder etc and would be confident picking him over Whyte, Povetkin, Zhang etc. He gave Usyk his closest fight and could’ve got the decision on another day, I genuinely believe he’s better than Usyk skill wise he was timing Usyk patterns, walking him into punches and setting him up by baiting him, timing Usyk’s head movement as he was pulling back, just so fluid, if they were the same height, I’m confident he would’ve decisively beat him, since he wouldn’t have had to close the distance, he would’ve been able to reach him from arms length, he’s more unpredictable with his attacks, throws lead right hands from out of nowhere with perfect timing when the opponent has a slight lapse in concentration and follows up with the right combinations perfectly, uses subtle movement to get closer without them realising, uses angles. His defense was also top notch too, less square on than Usyk, moves his head more after throwing punches and just less predictable in general. He could lead, he could counter, had great timing, footwork, could go forward, backwards, fight taller opponents, southpaws, there was no weakness to his game in his prime, and I haven’t even mentioned his power, he had one punch KO power in every punch. It’s such a shame he didn’t get more fortune, bigger fights and mainly, that he didn’t move up to heavyweight, I genuinely believe we would’ve been talking about him as a p4p great if he did.
I'm a big fan of Briedis and think he's been thoroughly underrated his whole career but I dunno if he's quite as great as you praise him to be. I think he should have been on loads of folks' p4p lists and I think he's a great fighter and top 5 cruiser but he just falls short of being an ATG I think. He is very skilled but he does have some holes in his game (as everybody does) which Opetaia showed at points. Incredibly skilled, very talented, and very underappreciated though.
Spot on, I like him a lot but he’s not an atg because of two spectacular losing performances(Usyk/Opetaia). He also never always gave it his all. He’s underperformed way too many times against opponents he’s much better than. Off the top of my head, Perez, Mikaeljan, and Dorticos are a few fights where he just tediously scraped by. Again, elite skill set for sure, but frustrating to be a fan of because you never knew what you were gonna get.
Briedis is an extremely solid fighter that would probably be regarded as elite if Usyk hadn't been in his division.
Ya know...............everyone that's good isn't necessarily an ATG. And this specifically, he was at HW 10 years ago. Beat Diamond Boy (which isn't really a HOF win anyway). Also, do you know how many guys throughout history could lead, counter, had great timing, footwork, could go forward, backwards, fight taller opponents, southpaws, etc.......... There's no shortage of completely well schooled boxers that aren't ATGs. Briedis is someone I'd say is a very good standout for his era. That don't equal ATG.
He's an excellent fighter who is strong in virtually every department: He's extremely explosive and powerful. He's fast. Skilful. Athletic. Got an iron chin (I've never seen him hurt, let alone dropped). High ring IQ. Physically strong. He's versatile - can box and fight. Nice punch arsenal. He's got a good engine etc. He has no real weaknesses which is very rare. CW Sergiy Radchenko who has sparred Wlad, Usyk, Briedis, Huck, Glowacki, Wlodarczyk, Kudryashov and Chakhkiev among others said this about Briedis ''You just can't be lighting fast and hit hard at the same time in this division, although Mairis Briedis is an exception - he is fast, the second fastest guy I sparred behind Usyk, and hits very hard'' Klitschko brother's former chef and camp manager on Briedis ''I knew Mairis was a danger and would win. Bad choice for Charr . Mairis can bang!'' ''no but he was great at movement. You have to stay focused with Mairis at all times.'' Mairis is a tough dude. Had him at least 6-8 times in Wlad and Vitalis camps. Always gives top work'' ''Mairis can box that way is all day long, but dont be fooled, the boy has some power. Seen it first hand'' ''I DID... but I know what Mairis was capable of from many many times in Klitschko camps.'' James Ali Bashir on Briedis Said Briedis sparred Wlad numerous times and was never hurt by him, which he says is very rare for anyone who has sparred more than 30 rounds with Wlad. Time-stamped This content is protected And Wlad on Briedis This content is protected Briedis would be the #1 CW of his generation if not for Usyk. To be fair, Usyk fought the wrong tactics against Briedis and stood in front of him too much. He parted ways with his then trainer after that fight. Papachenko was his head trainer for his next fight, against Gassiev, and it was one of his best performances. Also, re. Briedis. The Dorticos fight wasn't close and he went into the Noel Mikaelian (formerly knows as Noel Gevor) fight injured Old post I saw a post on YT probably about a week ago (a week before the Gevor fight) saying that Briedis ''can't use his power because he has an injury'' and I just saw this one on there today. ''Briedis had a surgery on his wrist and is still recovering from that. Not sure why that is kept quiet. So pretty much he boxed Gevor one handed. But he has serious issues in his camp, that need addressing asap'' And I found this on Google Former Coach, analyzing the Last Fighting Deer, lists a number of things that Mairim managed to show a better boxing. "Mairis jumps on top, heads up, he's sitting on jajb, but there's no sequel. Mairis works well with jab, but you're on the right hand. But the reason is already known to many - the good hand was hurt. So you can say that this He won the fight with jabb. I do not want to go too far because Maira's mistakes are being corrected by his coaches, "says Klein in a conversation with Sportacentrs.com. Briedis is a beast and I would've loved to have seen him campaign up at HW. But Usyk is the King. The God King.
He is definitely one of the most underrated fighters of this last generation. Imagine they gave him the decision against Usyk it was a close fight.
ATG chin for sure. In the two Opetaia fights I counted at least 10 punches that would have put any other cruiser in a coma. Mairis just kept marching forward
