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| Date | September 23, 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Venue | Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas, U.S. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title(s) on the line | WBA (Regular) cruiserweight title | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tale of the tape | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Result | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Dorticos defeated Kudryashov via 2nd round KO | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Yunier Dorticos vs. Dmitry Kudryashov was a professional boxing match contested on September 23, 2017, for the WBA (Regular) cruiserweight championship. [1]
After becoming the mandatory to the WBA's champion Denis Lebedev following a win over Fulgencio Zúñiga, [2] WBA allowed Lebedev to unify against IBF title-holder Victor Emilio Ramírez before facing Dorticos. In turn, the WBA ordered Dorticos to fight Youri Kalenga for an "interim" title. [3] Dorticos would stop Kalenga in the tenth round via technical knockout. [4]
Following this victory, Dorticos entered a purse bid for a fight against WBA (Regular) champion Beibut Shumenov. The fight was delayed several times, due to promotional issues before being called off due to an eye injury that Shumenov suffered during sparring. [5] In June 2017, Shumenov vacated his title due to that same injury. The WBA elevated Dorticos from interim champion to regular champion, despite Dorticos being away from the ring for over a year.
A day after being elevated to Regular champion, Dorticos joined the World Boxing Super Series. The field included 3 of 4 major title-holders from the 4 major sanctioning bodies, with only WBA (Super) champion Denis Lebedev not present. Dorticos was revealed to be the tournament's 4th seed. [6] The bookmakers had him is the third favourite the tournament. [7] At the WBSS draft Gala, held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on 8 July 2017, Dorticos was drawn against unbeaten Russian Dmitry Kudryashov. It was set for September 23 in San Antonio, Texas and was the to be the second cruiserweight quarter final after the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Marco Huck bout two weeks earlier, as well as the Super Series' first match in the United States and the third overall. [8]
The match up generated some excitement, as Kudryashov and Dorticos were both known as knockout punchers, with 42 out of 43 of their combined previous fights ending by way of knockout. [9] A percentage of the gate revenue was donated to the San Antonio Food Bank to aid victims of Hurricane Harvey. [10]
At the official weigh-in, Dmitry Kudryashov initially missed weight by half a pound, coming in at 200 1⁄2 lbs. However, he was able to come in at exactly 200 lbs in a second try 45 minutes later. Dorticos weighed in at 199 lbs. [11]
The fight started with a slow-paced, feel out round, with both boxers studying their opponent. Dorticos successfully executed a pull counter as the bell sounded. In round 2, the pace of the fight increased, with Dorticos and Kudryashov trading combinations. Eventually, Dorticos gained the upper hand by landing a series of one-two combos, as Kudryashov retreated behind his high guard. Dorticos ended the contest by knocking out Kudryashov with a right hook. The referee waived the count with a minute left in round 2. [12] [13]
With the win, Dorticos progressed to the semi-final stage of the Super Series and was to face the winner of the Murat Gassiev vs. Krzysztof Włodarczyk quarter final, scheduled for 21 October 2017.
Confirmed bouts: [14]
| Country | Broadcaster |
|---|---|
| Baltic & Nordic countries | Viasat [15] |
 Belgium | VOO [16] |
 Bulgaria | Nova |
 Canada | Super Channel |
 Germany | SAT.1 |
 Russia | Match! Boets [17] |
 Singapore | StarHub |
| Sub-Saharan Africa | TVMS |
 Turkey | Tivibu Sports [18] |
 United Kingdom | ITV |
 Ukraine | Inter |
Nonito Gonzales Donaire Jr. is a Filipino American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes from flyweight to featherweight, and is the oldest boxer in history to win a bantamweight world title, as well as being the first three-time champion in that weight class. Donaire has also held world championships in three consecutive decades: the 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, being the sixth boxer to do so after Evander Holyfield, Manny Pacquiao, Bernard Hopkins, Erik Morales, and Floyd Mayweather Jr.
Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk is a Ukrainian professional boxer. He has held the undisputed championship in two weight classes, at cruiserweight and heavyweight, and reigned as the undisputed world heavyweight champion from May to June 2024. He has also held the International Boxing Organization (IBO) title since 2021, and the Ring magazine title since 2022.
Jürgen Brähmer is a German professional boxer, who held the WBO title from 2009 to 2011, and the WBA (Regular) title from 2013 to 2016.
Beibut Amirhanovich Shumenov is a Kazakhstani former professional boxer. He is a former world champion, who held the WBA light-heavyweight title from 2010 to 2014. He also the WBA (Regular) cruiserweight title twice between 2016 and 2021
Yuniel Dorticós Pao is a Cuban professional boxer. He is a former cruiserweight world champion, having held the WBA (Regular) title from 2017 to 2018 and the IBF title from 2019 to 2020.
Mateusz Masternak is a Polish professional boxer fighting in the Cruiserweight division. He is a former EBU (European) Cruiserweight champion.
Denis Aleksandrovich Lebedev is a Russian former professional boxer who competed from 2001 to 2019. He was a unified world cruiserweight champion, having held the WBA title from 2012 to 2018, and the IBF title in 2016.
Mairis Briedis is a former Latvian professional boxer who competed from 2009 to 2024. He was a three-time cruiserweight world champion, having held the IBF and Ring titles from 2020 to 2022; the WBC title from 2017 to 2018; and the WBO title in 2019. Upon winning the WBC title in 2017, he became the first Latvian to hold a world boxing title. He was awarded the Order of the Three Stars in 2017.
Youri Kayembre Kalenga is a Congolese-French professional boxer. He is the former WBA interim Cruiserweight champion.
Norair Mikaelian, better known as Noel Gevor Mikaelian, is an Armenian-German professional boxer who is the current WBC cruiserweight world champion, holding the title since November 2023. He is the stepson of former European middleweight champion Khoren Gevor.
Denton Eric Daley is a Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 2010 to 2017. He challenged for the WBA interim cruiserweight title in 2014 and at regional level held the WBC-NABF, Canadian, and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles between 2013 and 2016.
Murat Georgievich Gassiev is a Russian former unified cruiserweight world champion, having held the IBF title from 2016 to 2018, and the WBA (Unified) title in 2018.
Ryad Merhy is an Ivorian-born Belgian professional boxer who held the WBA (Regular) cruiserweight title from 2021 to 2022.
Arsen Goulamirian is an Armenian-born French professional boxer. He previously held the World Boxing Association (WBA) cruiserweight title from 2019 to 2024, having previously held the (Regular) version in 2019.
Kevin Lerena is a South African professional boxer. He has held the World Boxing Council (WBC) interim bridgerweight title since 2023. Previously, he held the IBO cruiserweight title from 2017 to 2021 and challenged for the WBA (Regular) heavyweight title in 2022. As of September 2021, he is ranked as the world's fifth best active cruiserweight by The Ring magazine, fourth by Transnational Boxing Rankings Board and eight by BoxRec.
The 2017–18 World Boxing Super Series – cruiserweight division was a World Boxing Super Series professional boxing tournament that took place between September 2017 and July 2018 in several countries. The Super Series featured eight top-rated cruiserweight boxers in a single-elimination tournament. Its winner will hold world titles for all four of boxing's major sanctioning bodies, The Ring Magazine title, as well as the Muhammad Ali trophy. The tournament was organized by Comosa AG. A super middleweight tournament was held concurrently, with prize money for both competitions totalling US$50 million.
Murat Gassiev vs. Krzysztof Włodarczyk was a professional boxing match contested on October 21, 2017, for the IBF cruiserweight championship.
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Mairis Briedis was a professional boxing match contested on 27 January 2018, for the WBC and WBO cruiserweight championship.
Murat Gassiev vs. Yuniel Dorticos was a professional boxing match contested on 3 February 2018, for the WBA and IBF cruiserweight championship.
Mairis Briedis vs. Mike Perez was a professional boxing match contested on 30 September 2017, for the WBC cruiserweight championship.
