In a surprising upset, the well-known heavyweight Manuel Charr (28-4, 16 KOs) was stopped in the 5th round by little known undefeated Mairis Briedis (17-0, 14 KOs) on Saturday night at the Akhmat Arena, in Grozny, Russia. Charr was knocked out cold from a left-right combination from Briedis that deposited Charr face down on the canvas.
It was similar to the way Juan Manuel Marquez knocked Manny Pacquiao out three years ago in 2012. The only difference was Briedis split Charr’s guard with a right uppercut to the chin and followed it up with a parting left hook to the head that sent the 245 pound Charr face down on the canvas. Charr’s arms were to his sides when he hit the canvas and he didn’t even attempt to brace his fall because he was literally knocked unconscious. Referee Irakly Malazonia stopped the fight officially at 2:55 of the round.
This is the same Charr that former WBC heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko stopped in the 4th round three years ago in 2012. That fight was stopped due to a bad cut that Charr sustained in his right eyebrow. Charr was dropped in the 2nd round of that fight. However, he was a little younger back then a little faster on his feet than he showed tonight against the 30-year-old Briedis. Charr is nowadays more of a slow plodder than he was back when Vitali fought him in 2012. Had it been Vitali in the round with Charr tonight, I doubt that he would have even made it out of the 1st round, because he is just so slow on his feet and susceptible to anything throw around the sides of his guard, which is where Briedis directed most of his punches in this fight.
Charr was walking the 213lb Briedis down throughout the fight tonight, hitting him with heavy shots, and not looking like he was bothered by his punches. It looked like a match between a heavyweight and a cruiserweight, because Charr was just much bigger than Briedis in this fight. Briedis is a real small heavyweight, and he did not look like a big puncher. However, he caught Charr with a perfect right uppercut in the 5th that knocked him out cold. It looked like Charr was just too slow on his feet to block the shot, and he was defenseless to the follow up shot that Briedis caught him with as he began to fall.
