Former unified cruiserweight champion (up to 90.7 kg) Russian Murat Gassiev (28-1, 21 KOs) has been struggling with the consequences of injuries in recent years – since the defeat to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk in the final WSBB (2018) had only two intermediate fights.
In 2020, Gassiev made his debut in heavyweight with an early victory over the age gatekeeper Nuri Seferi, and 9 months later he also beat the German Michael Wallisch.
According to the fighter’s coach Vitaly Slanov, Gassiev’s comeback is scheduled for August. It seems that the ex-champion will not perform in Russia. Reasons for this decision
Russian propaganda resource TASS does not report. The mentor says that “they have two options for the next fight. It is planned for August in the UAE or Serbia.”
The conqueror of two weight divisions, Zolani Tete (30-4, 23 KOs) from South Africa, showed himself cool at the weekend in the second bantamweight (up to 55.3 kg) – he terribly knocked out Briton Jason Cunningham (31-7, 7 KOs), selecting international belts according to IBF and WBO.
The African dreams of conquering the third division and already
challenged to the unified champion Murodjon Akhmadaliev (11-0, 8 KOs) from Uzbekistan: “Drag him here – I will do the same with him (as with Cunningham). Champion, as soon as you’re ready to fall asleep in the ring, let me know.”
In June, Murojon beat American WBA mandatory Ronnie Rios. His next fight is expected to be against IBF mandatory and ex-world champion Marlon Tapales of the Philippines.
The owner of the WBC / WBO titles in the same weight, American Stephen Fulton, after declassing Roman, said: “Now I only need Akhmadaliev.”
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