Former cruiserweight world champion Murat Gassiev is heading to Matchroom Boxing.
The promotional company made the announcement today, stating that the Russian fighter will make the transition to the heavyweight division in June on DAZN. No specific details on which card Gassiev will appear in or who will be Gassiev's opponent were revealed. The deal is between Matchroom Boxing and Gassiev's existing promoters Ural Boxing Promotion and Warriors Boxing.
In a press release sent to Fightful, Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn expressed joy over the latest addition to his roster of heavyweights, which include the likes of Anthony Joshua, Michael Hunter, Filip Hrgovic, Oleksandr Usyk and more.
“I’m delighted to welcome Murat to the team. Having unified the division at cruiserweight, I feel Murat is a very exciting addition to the heavyweight division and what a fantastic time to join it. We have lots of fights ready made for him and I can’t wait to see him fighting at heavyweight very soon," Hearn said.
Gassiev entered the World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament in 2017 already holding the IBF belt. After a quick win over Krzysztof Wlodarczyk in the quarterfinals, Gassiev would go on to defeat Yunier Dorticos in the semifinals to unify the WBA and IBF titles in a 2018 Fight of the Year contender.
In the finals, Gassiev would go on to be outboxed by Usyk in the tournament finals last summer and Usyk became the first undisputed WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine cruiserweight champion. Gassiev now follows in Usyk's footsteps as Usyk also signed a promotional deal with Matchroom Boxing and is set to make his heavyweight debut in May against Carlos Takam.
