Boxing can be unpredictable, but what transpired Saturday night in cruiserweight action between Mairis Briedis and Krzysztof Glowacki was downright unprecedented.
Briedis pulled off the third-round TKO at the World Boxing Super Series in Riga, Latvia, but the round prior was one of the most insane rounds of boxing you'll ever see. The referee didn't hear the bell and let the round continue for an additional, staggering 33 seconds.
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The second-round madness began when Glowacki hit Briedis behind the head and Briedis responded by elbowing Glowacki in the jaw with 36 seconds left. Dazed, Glowacki fell to the canvas, as referee Robert Byrd deducted a point from Briedis for the elbow. After Glowacki got up from the mat, Byrd brought both fighters to the center of the ring and implored them to keep the WBSS semifinal scrap clean.
Both boxers came out of the break and traded punches until Briedis caught Glowacki with a right hook to the jaw and another right to the head, dropping his opponent with 19 seconds left in the round. Glowacki got up, took the count, and the final seconds of the round waned until the bell rang.
And rang.
And rang.
And rang.
Byrd inexplicably never heard the bell and allowed the fight to continue well past the end, with Briedis using an uppercut and right hook to drop Glowacki 10 seconds after the round should have ended.
Byrd gave Glowacki the count, as the boxer's corner feverishly tried to inform the ref that he had incorrectly let the bout continue. Incredibly, Byrd was about to let action resume for even longer before finally signaling that the round was over after 33 additional seconds.
After the wild second-round scene ended, Briedis dropped Glowacki again in the third. The ref stepped in and stopped the action, awarding him the TKO.
Adding to the madness afterward was the fact that Briedis said, "No, I heard the bell," while laughing during his post-fight interview. What should have been a three-minute round turned into a three minute and 33 second-round, which Briedis knew.
It was one of the craziest rounds you'll ever see in boxing, and because of it, Briedis advances to the WBSS cruiserweight final, where he'll take on Yuniel Dorticos.
