Mairis Briedis gets a brutal KO after an abnormal situation!
The end came quickly when Mairis Briedis (26-1, 19 KO’s) knocked out a game Krzysztof “Glowka” Glowacki (31-2, 19 KO’s) in the third round of their WBSS cruiserweight semi-final bout.
With the victory, Briedis walked away with WBO and WBC cruiserweight titles. Briedis will now face Yunier Dorticos in the finals of the cruiserweight tournament.
The Breakdown
For a fight to not make it to the conclusion of the third round, there was a tremendous amount of action and controversy. The first round began rather uneventfully, as both boxers probed and felt their opponent out. The second round was anything but uneventful!
The period began evenly enough, up until Glowacki attempted to hit Briedis in the back of the head. In retaliation, Briedis threw and landed a solid elbow to Glowka’s chin.
The illegal shot did connect, however, it did not appear that the cheap shot was all that thunderous. Whether the blow was hard or not, after a brief moment of hesitation, Glowacki fell down face-first on the canvas and covered his face up.
For a short time, he lay there motionless. Referee Robert Byrd made him get to his feet and prepare to fight. Moments after the action resumes, Glowacki is legitimately hurt by a legal punch. On wobbly legs, Glowaki makes it to the bell.
The trouble was, despite the bell to end the round clanging out of control, Robert Byrd never halted the action. As a result, the two men kept fighting and Glowacki was knocked to the ground well after the end the round.
This didn’t stop Referee Byrd from counting as if it was a legal knock down. In between rounds, Byrd could be heard complaining that he could not hear the bell. He certainly had to be the only person who didn’t hear it!
Still hurt and moving on unsteady legs, Glowka ate a number of clean power punches to the chin at the top of the third round. The proud Polish fighter went down hard, face first.
This time, to the delight of the very pro-Briedis crowd, referee Byrd would stop the fight for good.
It’s just a shame that the memorable ending will be somewhat tainted by the bad refereeing at the conclusion of the second period. Congrats to Team Briedis for the wild ride of a fight and victory.
By: Bakari Simpson
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