IBF Cruiserweight World Champion Murat Gassiev is full of praise for both Mairis Briedis and Mike Perez.
Murat Gassiev watched with interest as Mairis Briedis defeated Mike Perez via unanimous decision in the World Boxing Super Series in Riga, Latvia on Saturday night.
And the Russian IBF World Champion is full of praise for both combatants and fellow participants in the Ali Trophy cruiserweight tournament.
As exciting, talent-rich and respected as the cruiserweight division – once an all but frowned upon weight class – is today, the champions of the 200-pound division still aim to make the lucrative move up to heavyweight in the future. In fact both Oleksandr Usyk, the reigning WBO champ, and Murat Gassiev, the reigning IBF boss, recently spoke of their desire to become heavyweights, and heavyweight champion, at a later stage in their careers.
Warriors Boxing and Ural Boxing wish to congratulate the fighter they co-promote, brand-new IBF Cruiserweight World Champion Murat “Iron” Gassiev, for his title-winning victory on December 3 against Denis Lebedev at the Khodynka Ice Palace in Moscow, Russia.
In an entertaining fight, Gassiev (24-0, 17 KOs) of Vladikavkaz, Russia, dropped his countryman Lebedev in the fifth round and won a split decision by scores of 116-112 and 116-111 against a score of 114-113 for the now-former champ.
Fight fans who tuned in saw a great card in Moscow this past Saturday, and it was a card that was predominantly highlighted by cruiserweights. We saw hard-hitting Murat Gassiev decision the unimaginably tough Denis Lebedev in a great fight, and we saw the lethal banger that is Dmitriy Kudryashov – arguably the single hardest one-punch terminator in the sport today – ice Santander Silgado in typically chilling fashion.
Tonight at The Ice Palace in Moscow, unbeaten challenger Murat Gassiev scored a 12-round split decision victory over defending IBF cruiserweight champ Denis Lebedev. The new champion, now 24-0(17) prevailed via scores of 116-112 and 116-111, the third judge had it 114-113 for Lebedev, who is now 29-3(22).
A very tough, hard-fought battle, tonight’s main event saw both men take plenty of punches. Lebedev, the older man by a substantial 14 years at age 37, used his underrated boxing skills when he could, using plenty of movement and pumping out his sharp southpaw jab. Gassiev, so dangerous a puncher, stalked his man and though he was guilty of being one-paced at times, the challenger was both catching Lebedev with shots and making the older man work.
Mandatory challenger Murat Gassiev battles unified cruiserweight champion Denis Lebedev in bout that has explosive written all over it. The cruiserweight division is for the most part off the radar away from mainstream attention. Many of the sports long list of legends in the past reigned at middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight. Never a glamour division however in recent years it’s consistently produced great fights and top-ten matchups.
It’s been a nice alternative to many of the heavyweights nowadays, who are too large to keep an active punch rate and often end up gassing out midway thru a fight. The cruisers tend to be in better physical shape but still pack a punch which is the case in this unification dust-up. Take the two-belt champion in Denis Lebedev as example. He comes to fight, doesn’t lack power, and has a helluva chin. Murat Gassiev prefers to stalk his opponent and poses real one-punch knockout power which is evident by a nasty left hook ‘KO of the year’ candidate landed in his last fight in May.
Weights from Moscow:
Edward Trojanowski 139.75 vs. Julius Indogo 138.25
Dmitry Kudryashov 199 vs. Santander Silgado 200
Rakhim Chakhkiev 196.25 vs. Maxim Vlasov 197
Forget the cold war, this one will be red-hot! This Saturday in Moscow, Russia, we just might have The Fight of The Year, as cruiserweights Denis Lebedev (never in a bad fight) and Murat Gassiev (brutal KO artist) meet in a fight that has attracted plenty of attention amongst hardcore fight fans. These same fans, and a whole lot of boxing experts, are split as to who wins.
Team Shumenov believes it is worth reviewing recent history en light of the recent announcement that World Boxing Association Super/IBF cruiserweight world champion Denis Lebedev will defend against Murat Gassiev in late November or early December in Russia: A condition for allowing Lebedev to fight International Boxing Federation cruiserweight champion Victor Emilio Ramirez on May 21, 2016 was that Lebedev had to fight WBA cruiserweight world champion Beibut Shumenov within 120 days.
Murat Gassiev’s vicious left hand ended FS1’s main event in spectacular fashion. Prior to the knockout punch, Jordan Shimmell turned Murat’s forehead bright red with jabs and left hooks. Gassiev missed his first right-handed attempt, but made the left hand count to close the show in style. Shimmell remained unconscious for a short time before showing he was okay as the crowd stood in relief. The punching power that trainer Abel Sanchez spoke of was evident with Tuesday night’s display from Gassiev.