WBO strips Mairis Briedis of cruiserweight title

The ongoing clusterf*ck between Mairis Briedis, Krzysztof Glowacki, and the WBO has come to a head. The sanctioning body has stripped Briedis of the cruiserweight title he claimed in his controversial victory over Glowacki, citing a failure to follow their mandate for an immediate rematch.

Hopefully, this will go some way towards finally getting Briedis’ (26-1. 19 KO) WBSS final against Yuniel Dorticos scheduled.

Briedis’ and Glowacki’s (31-2, 19 KO) first fight was marred by some egregious fouls on both sides and truly horrid refereeing from Robert Byrd. Briedis answered a rabbit punch with a flush elbow, after which Byrd failed to stop the round at the mandated time and led to Briedis badly hurting Glowacki with a shot after the bell. Briedis rode the momentum into a third-round stoppage, claiming the WBO belt in the process.

The sanctioning body initially ordered whoever won between Briedis and Dorticos to immediately defend against Glowacki, but as they outline in their statement, the amount of time that would leave Glowacki waiting was unacceptable, so they instead pursued the rematch. As a result, the WBSS final will now only feature the WBC and IBF belts at stake.

As far as the WBO belt, they’ll presumably order #1 Glowacki to face #2 Lawrence Okolie. Theoretically, there’s nothing stopping whoever wins that from fighting Briedis or Dorticos.