WBC CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE: Durodola, Briedis make weight in Latvia

WORLD Boxing Council Silver Cruiser-Weight champion, Olanrewaju ‘Gods Power’ Durodola and Mairis Briedis are pumped up and ready for their historic WBC Cruiser-Weight title eliminator fight tonight (Saturday, May 14th) in Riga, Latvia.

Sportsbiz247.blogspot.com reports that this is the first major WBC title fight ever held in the beautiful small country right at the Baltic Sea.

Both men had no problem making the weight. Briedis tipped the scale at 90.3 kg (199 lbs.) while Durodola was slightly lighter at 90.05 kg (198.5 lbs.).

The winner of this Final Elimination bout will next face either Tony Bellew or Ilunga Makabu, who will fight for the vacant WBC World Cruiserweight Championship later this month in Liverpool.

At Friday’s official weigh-in Durodola and Briedis made very clear that they are both more than ready for the big fight.

“Durodola is the best opponent of my career so far”, said Briedis. “But I’m up for the challenge. Training camp went very well and I will not let my fans down. It is a big chance for me to fight for this prestigious belt here in my home town. I will not let my fans down.”

Silver Champion Durodola said that he is not willing to leave without his belt. “We did not come here for sightseeing. I’m used to fighting abroad and beating opponents in their backyard. That is what I did when I won the title against Kudryashov and I will do it again.”

Durodola enters this fight with a 22-2 record that includes 20 knockouts. Last November, the 35 year old shocked the boxing world by defeating crowd favorite Dmitry Kudryashov with a second round TKO in Kazan,  Russia to win the vacant WBC Silver cruiserweight title.