Yunier Dorticos bounced back from his semifinal loss in last season’s World Boxing Super Series with a victory in the quarterfinals of this season’s cruiserweight tournament.
Dorticos advanced to the WBSS cruiserweight semifinals with a narrow unanimous decision win over Mateusz Masternak (115-113, 115-113, 116-112).
The fight was a back-and-forth exchange of power shots, but Dorticos would prove to be the stronger puncher. Dorticos pressured Masternak early in the fight, scoring a major 1-2 combination that caused a cut on Masternak’s face. Masternak was able to hang in there against Dorticos, one of the cruiserweight division’s best knockout artists, but Masternak was unable to answer for the former world champion’s stiff punches.
This was Dorticos’ first win since suffering his first pro loss at the hands of Murat Gassiev. Gassiev stopped Dorticos in the final round this past February with the WBA and IBF titles and a spot in the WBSS cruiserweight finals on the line. Masternak's record falls to 41-5 and his five-fight win streak is snapped with his last loss coming against Tony Bellew back in 2015.
With the win, Dorticos is now in the semifinals for the second straight season and will face undefeated contender Andrew Tabiti. Tabiti, who competed on the pay-per-view portion of the August 2017 boxing card headlined by Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor, reached the semifinals on October 13 with a win over Ruslan Fayfer. The matchup between Dorticos and Masternak is expected to taking place in 2019.
