Russian boxer Gassiev defends WBA champion title

MOSCOW, July 11. /TASS/. WBA heavyweight world champion Murat Gassiev of Russia defended his title against Peter Kadiru of Germany in Moscow.

He won by technical KO in the sixth round.

Initially, Gassiev was to face Olympic champion Tony Yoka of France, but the latter was forced to withdraw due to a back injury.

In December 2025, Gassiev regained his world title after seven years by defeating Bulgarian Kubrat Pulev. In 2016, he won the International Boxing Federation (IBF) cruiserweight title, defeating fellow countryman Denis Lebedev, and subsequently defended it once. In 2018, Gassiev added the WBA belt to his IBF title, defeating Cuban Yuniel Dorticos. After losing to Ukrainian Alexander Usik in the final of the World Boxing Super Series in 2018, the Russian gave up two world champion titles. Gassiev now has 34 wins (27 by knockout) and 2 losses.