Mairis Briedis defeated Mike Perez by a unanimous decision in a World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight quarterfinal Saturday in Riga, Latvia. Briedis (23-0, 18 knockouts) also successfully defended his WBC 200-pound title.

The scores were: 116-110, 114-112 and 115-111.

Briedis has a major challenge ahead of him: He will next face tournament favorite Oleksandr Usyk, who stopped Marco Huck in 10 rounds in their quarterfinal fight on September 9.

Perez (22-3-1, 14 KOs) lost a point in the third round after a head butt caused a cut on Briedis. Briedis was docked a point in the 10th round for holding.