Mairis Briedis

Mairis Briedis is a Latvian cruiserweight who rose from the regional European scene to become one of the division’s most recognizable figures in the late 2010s and early 2020s. Fighting out of an orthodox stance and billed as "The Latvian Punisher," Briedis combined power and durability to compile a professional record of 28 wins and 3 losses with 20 stoppage victories. He is retired. Briedis turned professional in 2009 and built his reputation across Latvia and Europe, collecting regional hardware and a sequence of early stoppage wins. He took the IBA cruiserweight title in 2013 and followed with the WBC Baltic belt in 2014. By 2016 he had added the IBF Inter-Continental and WBC Silver cruiserweight titles, positioning himself for world-level opportunities. The defining stretch of Briedis’s career began in 2017 when he defeated former long-reigning champion Marco Huck by unanimous decision to win the WBC cruiserweight title. He successfully retained that belt later the same year with a unanimous decision over Mike Perez. In January 2018 Briedis faced Oleksandr Usyk in a title fight for the WBC and WBO cruiserweight championships; Briedis lost that bout by majority decision. Briedis returned to the top of the division in June 2019 when he stopped former world champion Krzysztof Głowacki in the third round to claim the WBO cruiserweight title. Administrative action by the WBO later led to that belt being declared vacant in November 2019, a sanctioning-body decision recorded in official reports. In September 2020 Briedis scored a closely contested majority decision over Yuniel Dorticos to win the IBF and The Ring cruiserweight titles, a high point that confirmed his standing among the division’s elite. He defended the IBF and The Ring titles with a stoppage win over Artur Mann in October 2021, but lost those belts to Jai Opetaia by unanimous decision in July 2022. Briedis later faced Opetaia again in May 2024 in a bout for The Ring and the vacant IBF titles and suffered a unanimous decision defeat. Administrative and recognition issues affected some title details during his career (notably WBO and IBO-related matters), but the bout results in his dossier remain documented. Across a 31-fight professional career, Briedis established himself as a major European force at cruiserweight — a power puncher who won regional and world-level belts, beat top contenders such as Marco Huck, Krzysztof Głowacki and Yuniel Dorticos, and stood toe-to-toe with elite opposition including Oleksandr Usyk and Jai Opetaia. He finished with a record of 28–3 (20 stoppage wins).