Review by AllTheBestFights.com: 2018-07-21, great performance by the winner but the fight was not so exciting: Oleksandr Usyk vs Murat Gassiev gets two stars.Both undefeated, the 2012 Olympic heavyweight gold medalist and current Wbo, Wbc champion Oleksandr Usyk entered this fight with a perfect boxing record of 14-0-0 (11 KOs=79%) and he is ranked as the No.1 cruiserweight in the world while his opponent, the Ibf and Wba Cw champ Murat Gassiev, has an official record of 26-0-0 (19 knockouts) and he entered as the No.3 in the same weight class. In their last three bouts Usyk has beat Michael Hunter (Usyk vs Hunter), Marco Huck (Usyk vs Huck) and Mairis Briedis (Oleksandr Usyk vs Mairis Briedis) while Gassiev has defeated Denis Lebedev (Lebedev vs Gassiev), Krzysztof Wlodarczyk (Gassiev vs Wlodarczyk) and Yunier Dorticos (Murat Gassiev vs Yunier Dorticos). Usyk vs Gassiev is valid for the IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO World cruiserweight titles and it is the final of the World Boxing Super Series Cw tournamet. Watch the video and rate this fight!
Date: 2018-07-21
Where: Olimpiyskiy Arena, Moscow, Russia
Division: cruiserweight (200 lbs, 90.7 kg)
Title: IBF, WBA, WBC, WBO World Cruiserweight titles
Usyk’s previous fight: Oleksandr Usyk vs Mairis Briedis
Gassiev’s previous fight: Murat Gassiev vs Yunier Dorticos
Usyk’s next fight: Oleksandr Usyk vs Tony Bellew
Gassiev’s next fight: Murat Gassiev vs Nuri Seferi
Usyk vs Gassiev full fight video:
(Free embeddable video hosted on Youtube and not uploaded by AllTheBestFights)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViPs_UOgZds
Official video
(Free embeddable video hosted on Ok.ru and not uploaded by AllTheBestFights)
How can a man so big execute the Lomachenko system so masterfully? Incredible. Usyk neutralized every aspect of Gassiev’s game.
Many slow, flat-footed boxers now taking up space in the heavyweight division are in trouble when he moves up. He could pivot around dreadnoughts like Miller or Whyte, for instance, with ease. Can’t wait to see how he does.
Lomachenko´s father was in Usyk´s corner with the black USYK cap. Usyk wants him to stay as head trainer in the future.
I would like to underline the fact that is was Russ Anber, former Lemieux’s trainer and now cutman for many elite fighters around the world including Lomachenko, who acted as Usyk’s chief second the other night. And I’m very proud to say he’s from Montreal, Quebec! ;)
Great performance by Usyk! Amazing footwork, speed, variety and volume output! The total package. I would rank him no.3 P4P in boxing right now, behind Crawford and Lomachenko.
Usyk was always first, throwing in combinations. Most of his combinations ended with a right hook (kind alike a check hook) with the lateral leg movement at the same time to stay out of Gassiev reach if he tried to counter. Gassiev should have use more head movement on his side to get on the inside, but he did not. Also, he could have break the cycle of Usyk’s right hook + step aside, if he tried to move to his own right, but he would then have been exposed to Usyk’s left hook, too dangerous. So Gassiev tried to chop down Usyk’s legs by going to the body, with some success at times, but that wasn’t enough. Usyk his in a class of his own at this weight.
Highly touted fight by some turned out to be a huge lop sided victory for highly skilled Usyk. I’m only giving it two stars bc it wasn’t really a fight but a clinic.
Nice combinations from Usyk.
Gassiev ate 5 punches for every one he landed, tough to win that way.
I have given 5 star to Usyk performance. Gassiev has too few variations and, as often happens with east fighters, is not looking to stay in short distance clinching and throwing. This is a common limit of russians: actually the only one I can find at the moment. To work the body of Usyk you cannot stay at distance.
Gassiev just stayed at the end of Usyks jab all night like a dummy…could have a had a better game plan and a better effort.
As usual, the Ukranian’s lateral movement and angles were the key in his outstanding performance. Too much of a disciplined technician for Gassiev, I guess. I didn’t expect the fight to be this one-sided.
Usyk an excellent technician controlled very well the fighting distance and the whole bout thanks to his master moves and perfect jabbing job as usual. Similar fighting style than Loma and quite accurate too.