Other events in Baltic States

Latvian boxing star Mairis Briedis and his opponent in the upcoming World Boxing Super Series semifinal bout in Riga, Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk, participated in a public workout at the Domina shopping mall in Riga today that was watched by about 1,000 people, LETA observed.

As reported, the fight for the WBO and WBC cruiserweight titles will be on Saturday at Arena Riga. The winner will face either Murat Gassiev (Russia) or Yunier Dorticos (Cuba) in the series' final.

Briedis' workout was a little more vigorous albeit shorter than Usyk's. Briedis said after the workout that he had returned from a training camp in Spain this past weekend.

Some of the people in the crowd were holding Ukrainian flags. Usyk has visited Riga several times in the past, including in May 2016 to see Briedis' fight against Olanrewaju Durodola.

Briedis said he was looking forward to a quality boxing match, and that he was ready to go all twelve rounds.

A similar public workout was organized before Briedis' previous fight against Mike Perez, but the crowd watching that workout was much smaller.

Usyk is considered the favorite to win the bout and the entire tournament.

As reported, in the Super Series' quarterfinals Briedis defeated Perez by unanimous decision. On the other hand, Usyk defended his WBO title against Marco Huck.

The 33-year-old Briedis has won all 23 of his professional fights, including 18 by way of knockout. Usyk (31) has won all of his 13 fights, including 11 by knockout.

The other World Boxing Super Series semifinal between Dorticos and Gassiev will be on February 3 in Russia's Sochi. The final is scheduled for May 2018, it will be held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The Super Series winner will hold world titles for all four of boxing's major sanctioning bodies, as well as the Muhammad Ali trophy.