Politics, politics. In what could prove to be bad news for Tony Bellew, and possibly frustrating news for Oleksandr Usyk, the recently crowned four-belt cruiserweight king may have to face Denis Lebedev next.
There is no doubting the incredible talents of recently crowned unified, four-belt cruiserweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk. At just 15-0(11) the gifted Ukrainian southpaw has accomplished so, so much already; chief among his big achievements making boxing history as THE first ever man to hold all four globally recognised world titles at 200 pounds: WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF.
Tony Bellew has made up his mind: he aims to go out in a blaze of glory in a fight that he fully acknowledges will be the toughest of his entire career (barring the light-heavyweight loss he suffered to Adonis Stevenson, back when, in the words of his promoter Eddie Hearn, Bellew was “like a skeleton”).
On Saturday night, in the final matchup of the inaugural World Boxing Super Series tournament, unified WBA/IBF cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev squared off against unified WBC/WBO cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNYsVGC2ay8
The post-fight documentary after Usyk made history by becoming the undisputed Cruiserweight champion of the world after defeating Gassiev in the World Boxing Super Series Cruiserweight Final.
Former featherweight star Naseem Hamed, today carving out a decent rep as a ringside commentator, liked what he saw on Saturday night in Russia as the unbeaten Oleksandr Usyk became the first man in boxing history to win all four recognised world titles at cruiserweight.
In the end Oleksandr Usyk made it look easy. Last night in Russia in dominating a very good, not to mention very tough, Murat Gassiev to win not only all four world titles at 200 pounds but also the Muhammad Ali Trophy of The World Boxing Super Series, the unbeaten Usyk proved once again how he is a legit pound-for-pound force.
Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk (15-0, 11 Kos) wrote history tonight at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow as he unified all four major world titles in his division and became the winner of the first season of the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament and thus the first recipient of the Muhammed Ali trophy.
Oleksandr Usyk (15-0, 11 KOs) triumphed on Saturday night in beating a badly over-matched IBF/WBA cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev (26-1, 19 KOs) by a 12 round unanimous decision to win the Muhammad Ali Trophy in capturing the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament at the Olimpiysky Sports Complex in Moscow, Russia.
Both Mairis Briedis and Yunier Dorticos lost their semi-finals with great honour – Here are their interesting thoughts on the historic Ali Trophy Cruiserweight Final between Aleksandr Usyk and Murat Gassiev in Moscow.