Marius Briedis was able to win a relatively wide decision in Germany over former division kingpin Marco Huck. He now holds the WBC belt in a very good, very open division. As Champion Emeritus, Tony Bellew will receive an immediate shot at Briedis should he decided to move back down to Cruiserweight when healthy.
I have to admit that I was very wrong both when I predicted Huck’s superior experience against high level competition would prevail and when I predicted this would be a very good fight. Neither happened. Mairus Briedis (22-0, 18 KOs) boxed intelligently with a strong jab when at range, but the real story of the fight was how Briedis prevented Marco Huck’s (40-4-1, 27 KOs) traditional semi-dirty infighting by clamping down on his arms whenever clinched. This was a lot of the fight and it was not entertaining for it.
Hopefully other opponents, and there are a lot of quality ones at Cruiserweight if the new Latvian titlist wants to fight them, create a much more pleasing style matchup result with Briedis in the future. It seems like most of them would, but I was clearly wrong here so what do I know?
Marco Huck is now clearly an old 32 and in a very deep division. It will be difficult for him to reclaim a title in a division he held one in for twelve defenses, but he will assuredly try.
