By Ian S Palmer
There’s another semifinal cruiserweight bout in the World Boxing Super Series this Saturday, June 15th as Yunier Dorticos of Cuba meets unbeaten Andrew Tabiti of Chicago, Illinois in Riga, Latvia. The bout is also for the vacant IBF interim Cruiserweight title and the winner will advance to the tournament final against the winner of the Mairis Briedis vs Krzysztof Glowacki bout. The fight can be seen live in North America on DAZN while those in the UK can catch the action on Sky Sports. Tabiti and Dorticos both fought in October with Tabiti earning a unanimous decision over Ruslan Fayfer and Dorticos going the same route to beat Mateusz Masternak.
The 33-year-old Dorticos is a former WBA Cruiserweight Champion who lost his crown to Murat Gassiev in February of 2018 in the semifinals of the first World Boxing Super Series. Dorticos had crushed Dmitry Kudryashov in the second round earlier in the tournament but was stopped by Gassiev with eight seconds left in the fight. Dorticos enters this bout with a record of 23-1 along with 21 big Ko’s with the loss to Gassiev being his only defeat since turning pro back in 2009. Dorticos has fought just 85 rounds since then mainly due to his quick knockouts.
There’s no questioning the Cuban’s amazing power as his current knockout ratio stands at an outstanding 88 per cent, but he met his match against Gassiev last year while Masternak took him the distance as did Edison Miranda over 10 rounds in 2014. Dorticos is a good-sized cruiserweight at 6-feet-3-inches tall with an 80-inch reach. He was elevated to the WBA Cruiserweight Champion in June of 2017 after being the interim champ. His toughest foes so far have been Gassiev, Kudryashov, Youri Kalenga, Fulgencio Zuniga, Miranda and Eric Fields.
Like several other Cuban-born boxers, Dorticos now fights out of Miami, Florida. He had an extensive amateur career of about 260 bouts and won numerous medals and events. Since turning pro Dorticos has won several minor titles as well such as the WBC Latino Cruiserweight, and USBA Cruiserweight Titles. He definitely has power but like most Cuban boxers also has some fine skills to display in the squared circle.
As for the 29-year-old Tabiti, he fights out of Las Vegas and is promoted by Floyd Mayweather. He’s also racked up a perfect record as he’s 17-0 and has 13 Ko’s to his name. Tabiti went 32-6 as an amateur and was a semi finalist in the national Golden Gloves. He’s fought 76 rounds since turning pro back in 2013 and has captured the USBA and NABF Cruiserweight Titles along the way. He stands 6-feet-1-inch tall and has a 76.5 inch reach, which means he’s two inches shorter than Dorticos with a 3.5-inch disadvantage.
Tabiti also has a pair of heavy fists with a current knockout ratio of 76 per cent. His list of opponents include a few boxers most fans will recognize such as Lateef Kayode, Keith Tapia and Steve Cunningham. Tabiti is of Nigerian descent and is well known for his fast hands. He’s not really on par with Dorticos when it comes to power and both boxers have pretty solid chins even though Gassiev did stop Dorticos.
Prediction…
This bout features two hard-hitting cruiserweights but it could go the distance if they utilize their boxing skills. If it ends up in a slugfest then I’d favour Dorticos. However, if Tabiti can utilize his speed, agility defence and skills he could pull out a win here and move on to the next round of the World Boxing Super Series. I think I’ll go with Dorticos here in an entertaining fight due to his slight advantage in power.
