The Lineal World Championship at Cruiserweight has been vacant since Oleksandr Usyk relinquished the crown in 2019 in order to focus on the Heavyweight division.
On September 26th, 2020, Yuniel Dorticos will fight Mairis Briedis at Plazamedia Broadcasting Center, in Munich, Bayern, Germany, in a bout that Lineal Boxing Champion recognizes as being for the vacant Lineal Cruiserweight World Championship.
Dorticos and Briedis have all four number one spots in the Cruiserweight ratings produced by ESPN, Ring, TBRB and Boxing News. The vacant Ring and TBRB titles will be on the line. Journalists at Left Hook Boxing and Boxing Scene also agree that the fight will crown the new true Champion in the Cruiserweight weight class.
The pre-fight leading independent ratings are listed below (as recorded on September 21st, 2020), and other noteworthy points are also outlined.
Independent Ratings
Online ratings, September 21st, 2020
ESPN. #1- Yunier Dorticos, #2- Mairis Briedis, #3-Ilunga Makabu, #4- Krzysztof Glowacki, #5-Noel Mikaelian.
Ring. #1-Mairis Briedis, #2-Yunier Dorticos, #3-Ilunga Makabu, #4- Krzysztof Glowacki, #5- Kevin Lerena.
TBRB. #1-Mairis Briedis, #2-Yunier Dorticos, #3-Krzysztof Glowacki, #4-Ilunga Makabu, #5-Kevin Lerena.
Boxing News. #1- Mairis Briedis, #2- Krzysztof Glowacki, #3- Yunier Dorticos, #4-Arsen Goulamirian, #5-Ilunga Makabu.
Noteworthy Points
Dorticos Vs Briedis will be contested for the IBF, Ring (vacant), and TBRB (vacant) titles.
Between them, Dorticos and Briedis occupy all four of the #1 spots in the leading four independent ratings produced by ESPN, The Ring, Boxing News and the TBRB.
According to ESPN, The Ring and the TBRB, Briedis and Dorticos are the top two fighters at Cruiserweight.
The WBO title is currently vacant. Arsen Goulamirian is the WBA Super titlist, and is ranked as follows in the independent ratings: #9-ESPN, #4-Boxing News, #8-The Ring and #10-TBRB. The WBC belt is held by Ilunga Makabu who is in the top 5 of all the independent ratings, but in all of them, he is ranked below Dorticos and Briedis.
“Dorticos (24-1, 22 KO) will be defending his IBF title in the fight, and also looking to win the vacant Ring Magazine championship, as this is seen by pretty much everybody as a No. 1 vs No. 2 fight in the division at this point.” – Left Hook Boxing, September, 21st, 2020. (1)
“With Usyk now competing in the heavyweight division, a new World [lineal] champion will also be crowned with such recognition to also come from the Transnational Boxing Ratings Board (TBRB) and Ring Magazine.” – Boxing Scene. (2)
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(1) Christ S. (2020) Left Hook Boxing. Yuniel Dorticos arrives in Germany, ready for Mairis Briedis in WBSS final. September 21, 2020.
(2) Donovan J. (2020) Briedis vs Dorticos WBSS final set, March 21 in Riga. January 10, 2020.
Picture credit: The World Boxing Super Series, 2020