Murat Gassiev stops Peter Kadiru in the sixth round in Moscow and celebrates his first successful defense of his WBA heavyweight world title.
WBA heavyweight world champion Murat Gassiev successfully defended his title for the first time in a relatively dominant performance on Saturday evening at the VTB Arena in Moscow. The former cruiserweight world champion defeated Peter Kadiru of Hamburg by technical knockout in the sixth round. Kadiru (23-2, 13 KOs) stepped in at the last minute for Olympic champion Tony Yoka after the Frenchman had to withdraw due to injury.
Gassiev (34-2, 27 KOs) became the sole WBA heavyweight champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the title last month. The Russian had already secured the WBA Regular title last December with a spectacular one-punch knockout of Kubrat Pulev.
Overall, the fight had few highlights, as Gassiev controlled the action and strategically targeted Kadiru, who appeared to be slightly out of shape. In the sixth round, Kadiru’s corner finally threw in the towel after Gassiev had backed his opponent into the ropes and landed a hard combination of punches to the head. Although Kadiru was still on his feet and defending himself against the barrage of punches, his corner stopped the fight to protect their boxer.
Meanwhile, the situation at the top of the heavyweight division remains fragmented. Following Oleksandr Usyk’s retirement from the world title, Daniel Dubois is the current WBO world champion. Franck Sanchez and Moses Itauma have been ordered to fight for the vacant IBF world title, while Agit Kabayel has been crowned the WBC heavyweight world champion.