Mairis Briedis: A Latvian Boxing Pioneer Who Retires As A Cruiserweight Great
Three-time cruiserweight world champion Mairis Briedis announced his retirement from boxing on Monday to draw the curtain on a trailblazing career.
Briedis revealed his decision to retire in an Instagram post accompanied by a heartfelt message, writing: “Dear friends, fans and loved ones, 25 years ago I stepped into the unknown, putting on boxing gloves for the first time, not realizing at the time that it would lead me to a career as a professional athlete.
“Boxing over time became my passion, my career and most of my life … the path I have walked over the years has been filled with so many unforgettable moments and joys of victory, it has made me the person I am today and has allowed me to pursue new goals and achievements.
“With the deepest gratitude to every person who has supported or motivated me at some point, or simply followed my progress, I would like to say thank you for these 25 years and officially announce the end of my professional boxing career.
“Every fight, especially those that took place in Latvia, was special for me. I always felt incredible support from my peers, and this is what inspired me to even higher goals and achievements.
“Boxing was not just a career – it was a life filled with passion, emotions and dreams. But it’s time to say goodbye to the ring and open a new chapter in my life.
“I will continue to share my experience, help new generations of boxers and inspire everyone who pursues their dreams. Let this story be an example of what can be achieved when the heart is on fire, that mistakes can be corrected by learning from them, and that the most important thing is to get up after a fall and move on.”
Briedis retires at the age of 39 with 28 wins (20 by knockout) against only three losses, all of which came against two elite opponents. He is Latvia’s first – and still only – boxing world champion and was for a time the best cruiserweight on the planet.
Coming from a country with a population of less than two million people and where ice hockey, basketball, and soccer are the dominant sports, that Briedis reached the pinnacle of the fight game is testament to his skill and perseverance.
He started as a kickboxer – and a good one at that; he won bronze medals at the 2005 and 2007 Kickboxing World Championships, and gold in the 2008 European Championships.
Briedis was also boxing around the same time and established himself as the best amateur heavyweight in Latvia by winning three national titles between 2008 and 2011 while working for the Latvian State Police.
He turned professional in October 2009 in Latvia’s capital, Riga, and after being taken the distance in a four-rounder on his debut, won his next eight fights by stoppage, including his first bout in the United States in June 2013. One fight before that, he knocked out former heavyweight world title challenger Danny Williams in the second round.
In his fourth and final fight of 2013, Briedis won his first title, collecting the IBA’s vacant cruiserweight belt by dominating Ismail Abdoul in what was his opponent’s 88th fight.
Having taken his talents on the road with fights in Greece, Germany, and Russia – where he knocked out former heavyweight contender Mahmoud Charr in Grozny – Briedis continued his rise by becoming the IBF intercontinental cruiserweight champion with a second-round stoppage of Danie Venter in February 2016.
‘The Latvian Punisher’ was establishing himself as one of the best 200lbs fighters in the world and added the WBC’s silver title to his collection in May 2016 by knocking out Olanrewaju Durodola. That victory put Briedis in contention to challenge for the WBC world title and he got his shot against Marco Huck for the vacant belt in April 2017.
Considered at the time a 50-50 fight, Briedis dominated the German fighter in Germany, securing a wide points victory to make history as Latvia’s first world champion.
His first title defense was part of the popular but short-lived World Boxing Super Series in which eight of the world’s best cruiserweights competed in a single-elimination tournament. Briedis retained his belt in the quarter-finals with a unanimous decision win over Mike Perez in September 2017, before he took on WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk in a unification bout in the semi-finals.
The Latvian may have fallen to his first professional defeat, but it remains Usyk’s toughest ever fight as the Ukrainian edged the contest by majority decision.
Briedis immediately regrouped and became a two-time world champion by knocking out Krzysztof Glowacki in June 2019, and after vacating the belt, became a three-time champion with a majority-decision win over Yuniel Dorticos 15 months later.
One defense followed – a third-round TKO of Artur Martin in his final fight in Riga – before Briedis ran into rising Australian star Jai Opetaia, who claimed a points win in July 2022 in Australia. After a near-two-year layoff, Briedis returned to challenge Opetaia in a rematch for the vacant IBF title and came up short again on points.
With defeats only to Usyk – the greatest cruiserweight of all time – and later in his career to Opetaia, who is now the division’s most dominant fighter, Briedis hangs up his gloves knowing that he maximized his talents and achieved everything possible in the 200lbs division.
