Explosive left hook ends Pulev’s reign – Murat Gassiev returns with a brutal knockout victory in the heavyweight division.
There is a new heavyweight title holder: Murat Gassiev was crowned WBA regular world champion tonight at the Duty Free Tennis Stadium in Dubai with a brutal knockout in round six against Kubrat Pulev.
Gassiev (33-2, 26 knockouts) snatched the belt from the Bulgarian with an uncompromising performance and impressively underlined his punching power in the premier class. The full WBA world title remains in the possession of Oleksandr Usyk – the man who defeated Gassiev in the 2018 World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight final and secured the status of undisputed champion at the time.
Pulev (32-4, 14 knockouts), who won the title last year with a unanimous points victory over on-off champion Mahmoud Charr in Sofia, got off to a routine start. In the first two rounds, the 42-year-old controlled the action with a hard-working jab and interspersed rights with which he kept Gassiev at a distance time and again.
From the third round onwards, however, the Russian increased the pressure, worked consistently to the body and got into the fight better. The turning point came abruptly in round six: while Pulev was again disrupting with the jab, Gassiev exploded forward from half-distance and hit him with a cracking left hook right on the chin.
Pulev went down hard and remained flat on his back. Although he tried to get up again, referee Rafael Ramos stopped the fight after 56 seconds – a clear knockout and a statement victory for Murat Gassiev, who thus re-established himself as a serious factor in the heavyweight division.