Mairis Briedis has a set fight date and opponent for the first stop on his comeback trail.
The former three-time cruiserweight titlist and one-time lineal champ will hit the road to face Scotland’s John McCallum. Their bout will land on the already announced Lee McGregor-Erik Robles card July 21 on UK’s Channel 5 from the Meadowbrook Sports Centre in capital city Edinburgh, Scotland.
Latvia’s Briedis since he was dethroned by unbeaten Jai Opetaia in their lineal/IBF cruiserweight championship last July 2 in Broadbeach, Australia. The defeat saw the end of Briedis’s third cruiserweight title reign after just one successful defense following a September 2020 points win over Yuniel Dorticos.
Briedis (28-2, 20KO), 38, previously held the WBC cruiserweight title from April 2017 through his January 2018 defeat to Oleksandr Usyk. He also won the WBO cruiserweight title in a controversial third-round knockout of Krzysztof Glowacki. Brieidis was forced to vacate for failure to honor a mandated rematch due to his contractually-bound commitment to the World Boxing Super Series final versus Dorticos.
McCallum (13-2, 0KOs) will enjoy home soil advantage but is otherwise miserably overmatched in the ring. The 34-year-old Scotsman has suffered knockout losses in his lone two bouts versus opponents with winning records. He was stopped in the second round versus 2016 Olympic Gold medalist Evgeny Tishchenko, who was unbeaten at the time of their November 2020 regional cruiserweight title fight in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
Just one fight has followed for McCallum—a four-round decision over career opponent Lewis van Poestch (9-127-2 at the time) in August 2021.
The well-traveled Briedis has fought just once before in the UK—an October 2016 third-round knockout of unbeaten Simon Vallily in Liverpool. The win was his last as a rising contender and he claimed the WBC cruiserweight title in a twelve-round win over former long-reigning WBO champ Marco Huck in March 2017.
Edinburgh’s McGregor (12-0-1, 9KOs) vies for the IBO junior lightweight title in the main event versus Mexico’s Robles (13-1, 9KOs), who travels abroad for the first time.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox