Undefeated world champions Oleksandr Usyk and Murat Gassiev will face each other in the finals of the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament on July 21, 2018 in Moscow, Russia.
The tournament was created in order to crown a single and undisputed cruiserweight boxing champion. It started in September 2017 and after 285 days, 8 fighters and 4 countries, we are down to the last two fighters standing. And it is absolutely fitting that we have the top two fighters in the tournament squaring off in the grand finale.
The cruiserweight division in boxing is one of the most talented weight classes today. However, it has always been overlooked because of the high profile welterweight and heavyweight divisions. But while boxing fans have been disappointed in not seeing the best fights happen at welterweight and heavyweight, the cruiserweight division has put together its best fighters in one tournament that culminates with this fight.
The fight was originally scheduled to take place on May 11, 2018 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. But after Usyk suffered a left shoulder injury in training, the bout was postponed and the middle east venue was eventually scrapped. Last month, the Russian Boxing Federation announced that the new venue for this high stakes clash will be the Olimpiysky Sports Complex in Moscow.
The winner of the bout (and tournament) will be the recipient of the first-ever Muhammad Ali trophy which was commissioned for the WBSS tournament. More importantly, the winner will become the first undisputed cruiserweight champion in the four-belt era. He will also become only the fourth male boxer to unify all four major belts in any division, after Bernard Hopkins, Jermain Taylor, and Terence Crawford.
Oleksandr Usyk is the definition of the ultimate road warrior. The 2012 London Olympic heavyweight gold medalist a won the WBO cruiserweight title from Krzysztof Głowacki in the latter’s home country of Poland, defended it twice in the United States and then defeated Marco Huck in Germany in the World Boxing Super Series quarterfinals. In his last bout, he traveled to Latvia for the WBSS semi-finals, retained his WBO belt and annexed the WBC cruiserweight championship with a hard-earned majority decision win over Latvia’s own Mairis Briedis.
The 30-year-old Usyk is undefeated in 14 bouts with 11 knockouts. The former 2011 World Championships heavyweight gold medalist is considered by most as the best cruiserweight today and is the #1 ranked fighter in this tournament. He will be looking for yet another road victory here as he aims to add the WBA and IBF cruiserweight belts to his collection and become the undisputed cruiserweight by dethroning Murat Gassiev in Russia.
Like Oleksandr Usyk, Russia’s Murat Gassiev enters the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament as an unbeaten champion. Gassiev, the youngest fighter in the tournament at 24 years old, has a record of 26 wins and no defeat with 19 wins by way of knockout. The only blot in his professional boxing resume is a 2015 no-contest against unknown Isiah Thomas where the latter could not continue fighting after being accidentally hit by Gassiev after the bell.
Gassiev has been hailed by many as the “next Gennady Golovkin” because of his punching power and knockout prowess. But the Golovkin comparisons do not end there. Like Triple G, Gassiev trains at Big Bear. Like Golovkin, he is also trained by Abel Sanchez. He won the IBF belt from Denis Lebedev via split decision in December 2016 and added the WBA cruiserweight title during his epic WBSS semifinals clash with Yunier Dorticos where Gassiev dropped Dorticos thrice in the final round to score a late stoppage.
The southpaw Usyk has a height of 6-3 and a reach of 78 inches. This 31 year old Ukrainian has tremendous punching power and is known for throwing hard shots to the body. But what makes him stand out in this division is his agility given his size and weight. Usyk has uncanny movement for a big fighter. He bobs and weaves counters which allows him to be more effective with his punch combinations. Not only does he have plenty of pop in his punches, he also has a variety of punches in his offensive arsenal.
Usyk has knocked out six of his last eight opponents but he has also shown that he can go the distance and win a 12 round boxing match. Not only did he show in his last fight that he can win a decision but he proved he can do so against the best fighters in the business and even with a disadvantage. Usyk suffered a cut on his right eye against Briedis. He struggled early but outboxed the Latvian in the second half of the bout to win by majority decision.
Gassiev is 6-3, has a reach of 76 inches and fights at an orthodox stance. He is a big body puncher who likes to double up that left hand if given the opening. In fact, it was Gassiev’s investment in body punches that eventually weakened Dorticos and paved the way for the three knockdowns in the 12th round of their semifinals encounter. On the other hand, it was his left hook upstairs/downstairs combination that stopped Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in the third round of their quarterfinals clash.
The Russian is a pressure fighter who constantly moves forward and throws compact, powerful punches. Gassiev probably owns the most powerful right hand in the cruiserweight division and he absolutely has one punch knockout power. When he is able to control the pace of the fight, Gassiev is violently impressive. A few years back, many questioned his resume but after proving his worth in this tournament, everyone agrees that the hype is real. Fighting Usyk though will be the biggest test of his young career.
Usyk is one of the busiest fighters in the sport as this is is his fourth bout in eleven months. But it’s not just the insane workload that makes him impressive. It’s the fact that this is his fifth straight world title fight. But that could work both ways. No question Usyk is young and hungry but not only has he had a busy schedule, he’s coming off a tough 12 rounder last January. Gassiev has one fight less over that same period and is seven years younger. Usyk also suffered an injury recently although it wasn’t serious.
You can’t ask for a better fight than this one. These are the top two boxers in this weight class and they are are fighting to determine the undisputed champion. No doubt this is a super fight but sometimes, these type of fights don’t live up to the hype. When you have two equally great fighters in a huge fight, there is a tendency that both would become very cautious, leading to a dull fight. That tendency increases when both are unbeaten and both have knockout power. That’s what we have here. There’s a good chance of this ending in a KO but you can’t discount the possibility that we’re going 12 rounds with both fighters wary of the other’s power.
This is a great match up and you can make a case for both fighters. But when I see two evenly matched fighters, I usually go with the one who can go 12 rounds and dictate the pace of the fight. Gassiev has won more fights by decision. But Usyk’s win over Briedis stands out. Usyk is the smarter fighter who picks his spots better and is the better overall boxer. If this goes to the judges, he has the better chance of getting the nod. Between the two, Gassiev relies more on power. That could be his downfall against Usyk.
If this doesn’t end in the first four rounds, this is going to be a long close fight. I think Usyk boxes better and is smarter when it comes to point scoring. We’re picking Oleksandr Usyk to win a close technical fight.
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