Mairis Briedis, Yunier Dorticos rejoin WBSS for Season 2

Mairis Briedis and Yunier Dorticos are officially back in the World Boxing Super Series as they head up the Season 2 cruiserweight tournament. The quarterfinal match-ups have just been announced with the dates and places to be revealed at a later date.

Briedis (24-1,18 KOs) has been slotted as the #1 seed and will take on Germany’s Noel Mikaelian (23-1, 10 KOs) in the tournament’s opening round. Dorticos (22-1, 21 KOs) is in the #2 position and will face Poland’s Mateusz Masternak (41-4, 28 KOs). Krzysztof Glowacki (30-1, 19 KOs) is the #3 seed and will face Russia’s Maksim Vlasov (42-2, 25 KOs). And finally, Ruslan Fayfer (23-0, 16 KOs) has been given the #4 seed and will face Andrew Tabiti (16-0, 13 KOs) who fights out of Floyd Mayweather’s camp.

“We have an amazing lineup with eight worthy challengers that rival last season’s sensational quality,” promoter Kalle Sauerland, the chief boxing officer for tournament owner Comosa AG. “Cruiserweight is one of the most exciting divisions. Just look at last season’s unbelievable matchups. So we are looking forward to a new season.”

This tournament, while good, may have lost a little of it’s sheen as Season 1’s winner, Oleksandr Usyk, has already consolidated all four major world titles — meaning that there won’t be any world title fights in this go ‘round.

Both Briedis and Dorticos, who lead the cruiserweight tourney in Season 2, lost in the semifinals round of Season 1.