Seven years in the past Mairis Briedis was awarded the Order of the Three Stars, probably the most prestigious award any Latvian can obtain.
On the time, the previous three-time cruiserweight world champion was about to move right into a unification bout with Oleksandr Usyk in his native Riga within the World Boxing Tremendous Sequence. Briedis and Usyk fought it out in entrance of 12,000 raucous followers, the chants of “Breidis, Breidis, Breidis’ made hair get up on the again of your neck. Nevertheless, it will mark Briedis’s first profession defeat, shedding by majority resolution.
Usyk would go on to unify the division forward of changing into the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight world champion. In the meantime, Breidis reclaimed his cruiserweight crown with victories over Krzysztof Glowacki and Yuniel Dorticos. He aggressively chased fights with then WBO champion Lawrence Okolie and influencer-come boxer Jake Paul as a warfare started in Ukraine.
“I used to be at Michal Cieslak vs Lawrence Okolie,” Briedis remembered in an unique interview with BoxingScene. “I used to be on the battle and I used to be dressed up as [Super] Mario as a result of Jake Paul known as me Mario. Then the warfare began, and the condemnation.
“Then the subsequent factor I do know, I am at London airport and I get a textual content saying they want my opinion on the warfare. That is what all of the Latvian media requested me for. And I stated – I do not know what’s going on. I’m sitting within the airport now. They stated to me, ‘how will you not know?’ I stated, ‘I do not know! And I used to be instructed that when you do not inform me your opinion, all of the media will write that you’re for Putin. That is what Raimonds [Zeps], my supervisor, stated.”
For context, Latvia has a protracted working historical past with Russia. The small Baltic nation shares a border with them. It grew to become a part of the Soviet Union following World Battle 2 and had beforehand been part of the Russian Empire. Round half of Latvia is ethnically Russian, the tradition taking part in an enormous function in modern-day Latvia. It’s truthful to say, many ethnic Latvians are anti-Russian as a consequence of a really current and violent occupation.
“I stated that I’m in opposition to individuals dying each right here and there,” Briedis defined. “With out taking sides within the warfare. Each usually are not my nations. However in Latvia individuals had been appearing as zombies or one thing. Even our present President (then International Minister) wrote on his Twitter account that ‘the subsequent time I watch the battle with Mairis, I cannot be on both aspect’. It’s a very highly effective factor when such high-ranking members of the federal government, the leaders of the nation, are expressing their opinion of the individual.
“After all, lots of people will suppose that – he’s our minister, so I have to suppose that too. And that’s what lots of people wrote afterwards, that “oh, I will not be on both aspect subsequent time!”. And every part I might say was remodeled by the media, turned the wrong way up and made out to be pro-Russian, although I do not assist Russia. There was by no means a single phrase like that.”
Briedis handled the nationalistic downside expressing his opinion in a video message two years in the past: “Those that wage warfare, those that go there, those that drive warfare, I’m categorically in opposition to it. That is the craziest factor that may occur in our world. However I do not need to lump Russian-speakers into one bag. There have already been circumstances when long-distance drivers driving with Russian license plates have already been stabbed, crushed to half demise, I do not need there to be a warfare between languages. I provide you with power and vitality in order that peace will come to you as quickly as potential and this horror will finish. I pray that it’s going to all finish sooner. So do not ask me for an opinion that I do not absolutely perceive. I’m unequivocally in opposition to the warfare.”
The anger from his fellow Latvian’s has prompted some points for Briedis. An autobiographical e-book; Mairis Briedis – Is There a Life After Sport, was meant to be introduced in one of many metropolis’s largest purchasing malls, however he was refused to advertise his e-book because of the aforementioned points.
“I consider that on this approach they stole 25 years of labor at one level due to a diplomatic perspective at that second,” Briedis continued. “You ask an expert sportsman for such an opinion? It’s best to’ve given me some info! , I evaluate this example to a medal or a coin. One a part of the coin has turned in opposition to you and the opposite at all times turns to you. Due to this fact, there’s now a number of assist not solely from Latvians, but additionally from Russian-speaking Latvians.
“I say, an individual stays an individual. The truth that we converse in some sounds, we additionally now converse English. If I do know that language, if I am studying one other. These are the sounds we perceive. Others usually converse with gestures. So who’re they? Aliens if they do not speak? These are the sounds by means of which we converse. And that is my philosophy, my imaginative and prescient of life, that once you begin to get connected to some languages, that’s… I do not know the place we stay if the partitions are closed to sure languages.
“Anyhow, they’ve worn out the way forward for sport for Latvian youngsters. As a result of I bear in mind after my fights there have been at all times full arenas and other people wrote ‘wow! Children got here, adults got here, attorneys, ladies, the entire enviornment was full’. Now it is a large downside these days that children are sitting in entrance of their computer systems on a regular basis.”
This may all culminate in Briedis having a bash at politics. He would run as a Member of European Parliament [MEP] for the Russian leaning social gathering known as Concord in 2022. He wouldn’t get elected.
“Sadly or luckily I did not get into politics for that social gathering, however that is one other story. When journalists speak to me now, so far as I perceive, they don’t seem to be inquisitive about boxing from me anymore, however they’re simply inquisitive about politics, my political imaginative and prescient. And right here we see it once more, in actuality… even now we spoke 70 per cent about politics, my story, my imaginative and prescient. And solely 30 per cent for boxing. Then there’s the query, what are individuals extra inquisitive about?
“Latvia do not need to go additional, they do not need the world of boxing, the world of sports activities to speak about them. Okay, let’s not speak concerning the financial system, as a result of we do not have a lot and we stay on a regular basis from the cash of the European Union. Together with you – Latvians who might have been right here and earned some huge cash for Latvia and developed their nation all of them have left. There’s a large distinction in different nations. Latvia ate its personal hero.”
Regardless of his downside along with his individuals, Briedis’s accolades have impressed a brand new era of Latvian fighters. You go to any fitness center in Riga, all of the fighters look as much as Briedis as a sportsman. He heads right into a rematch with Jai Opetaia on the undercard of Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk this Saturday in Riyadh after two years out of the ring.
“By boxing in England he confirmed that he destroyed me, his opponents and confirmed that he’s a high-level athlete,” Briedis added. “That is probably my final battle, so, let’s go, let’s battle. The staff is assembled, we can be in superb form now too. Let’s as soon as once more present the world what Latvia is able to. As a result of no matter it’s, it is my nation.”