Mairis Briedis has advanced to the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight final after stopping Krzysztof Glowacki in the third round of one of the strangest fights of the year.
Nothing much happened in the first round of the fight, which took place in Briedis' native Riga, Latvia, in front of an adoring crowd. In the second round, however, all hell broke loose. During a clinch, Glowacki popped Briedis in the back of the head with an obvious rabbit punch, but before referee Robert Byrd could get in to break the fighters apart, Briedis answered back with a devastating elbow to the Polish fighter's chin.
Glowacki was clearly hurt by the shot, and with good reason. He collapsed to the ground, but found little sympathy from Byrd, who, initially unaware of what happened, told him to get up. Once he realized why Glowacki was on the ground, however, Byrd proceeded to take a point from Briedis.
Somehow, that was only the beginning of the craziness in the round. Briedis sent Glowacki to his knees with some big right hands, but Glowacki was able to beat the count. A few seconds later, the bell rang, though a once again unaware Byrd allowed the fight to continue. With the bell ringing nonstop, and those at ringside waving their arms to try and draw Byrd's attention, Briedis continued his assault on Glowacki, and sent him tumbling down once again. The second knockdown was so long after the bell, that a member of Glowacki's corner had even entered the ring to try and stop the action.
There was no issue with the bell in the third round, though, as Briedis overwhelmed Glowacki, rocking him with a huge uppercut, then following up with a right hand that ended the fight.
After the controversial bout, Briedis apologized for his elbow, and admitted he had heard the bell at the end of the second round. "No, I heard the bell," Briedis said, laughing.
Glowacki's camp was furious after the bout, and with good reason. It's unclear what, if anything will be done about the result, but at this point Briedis is on to the WBSS cruiserweight final, where he'll face Yuniel Dorticos. The Cuban won his semifinal bout earlier in the day over Andrew Tabiti with a knockout of the year candidate.