Kalle Sauerland, the Chief Boxing Officer of the World Boxing Super Series, was dead set on getting the celebrated tournament back underway even as the deadly Covid-19 pandemic obliterated sporting events around the world.

But the question of safety was at the top of the list.

Which is why the recently announced WBSS cruiserweight finals between Cuba’s Yuniel Dorticos (24-1, 22 KOs) and Latvia’s Mairis Briedis (26-1, 19 KOs) will take place in Munich, Germany, as opposed to the original location in Latvia.

“…Germany is a territory that has coped very well with the pandemic and has had boxing and sporting events take place already post-pandemic,” Sauerland told Boxing Social. “It was also the first major [soccer] league to be back.”

“It’s a country that has been a leader so far in coping with the pandemic, so it’s a territory that we felt was the most efficient place for us to stage it. That, together with the production facilities of Plazamedia, made the decision for us.”

The fight, which had to be cancelled twice because of Covid-19, will take place indoors in a controlled environment, closed off to the public.

“[Plazamedia Broadcasting Center] is one of the best and most hi-tech film studios in the world,” said Sauerland. “The Germans are renowned for their technology and innovation, and this studio is no exception. So you’re going to see an epic production.

“Given all the other moving targets there were for us around this final – for example the boxers coming from opposite sides of the Atlantic – so we wanted a venue we felt was neutral under those circumstances.”

Unlike other promoters who could pick and choose which fighters to fight in their events, the WBSS did not have that luxury, Sauerland noted. Given the tourney format of the WBSS, come hell or high water, they had to move forward with Briedis and Dorticos.

“There were other big fights that were set to be made before the pandemic where you could change the pairings,” Sauerland said. “With us it was a bit different. We had a final already featuring two guys who had qualified via fantastic semi-finals and quarter-finals so we had no choice – we couldn’t take Briedis and match him with a different European opponent, or do it the other way around and take Dorticos and match him against a different American opponent.

“We had to go with these guys. It was non-negotiable, they were not interchangeable – they were irreplaceable. We had to stick within those parameters.”

Briedis earned his spot by stopping Krzysztof Glowacki last June; Dorticos earned his on the same card by knocking out Andrew Tabiti. Both fighters made it to the semi-finals in the first iteration of the tournament, with Dorticos losing to Murat Gassiev and Briedis dropping a decision to Oleksandr Usyk, who would go on to win the whole thing by beating Gassiev in the finals in 2018.