Gassiev’s replacement opponent announced.
This Saturday, Murat Gassiev would have been stepping into the ring to face Tony Yoka in a hometown world championship defence.
It was to be an interesting clash of big men that was upgraded to have the full WBA heavyweight title on the line after Oleksandr Usyk gave up the belt in his relinquishing of the unified crown.
Given that Gassiev had been the WBA (Regular) champion already, he was subsequently made the full titlist, making him one of only four fighters in history to be a champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.
However, the bout went through a period of uncertainty after Yoka withdrew from the contest with a back injury. And immediately, a replacement was sought after.
Reports stated that the man to save the main event would be one of either Joe Joyce or Artem Suslenkov, who were due to meet in a clash on the show’s undercard.
It was thought that Joyce was the frontrunner, and talk turned to whether or not the 40-year-old Englishman–who has lost four of his last five fights–deserved a shot at the belt.
However, we now know that neither Joyce nor Suslenkov will be getting the opportunity. Instead, Gassiev (33-2 (1), 26 KOs) will be making his maiden heavyweight title defence against Peter Kadiru (23-1, 13 KOs).
Kadiru is a 29-year-old German who is coming off a victory over the hard-hitting Senad Gashi in May. Should he win in the headliner, he will be the first German heavyweight champion since Agit Kabayel, who was upgraded to WBC titlist recently.
Kabayel himself was the first heavyweight titlist from Germany since the great Max Schmeling. One would suspect that an all-German unification fight would be of interest if Kadiru wins.
But of course, Gassiev will have other ideas.
✅ CONFIRMED: Murat Gassiev will now defend his WBA heavyweight title against the 23-1 German Peter Kadiru on Saturday in Moscow, Russia, after Tony Yoka pulled out of the fight with Gassiev last week due to injury. pic.twitter.com/UnflqkOSlB
— EverythingBoxing | Darshan Desai (@EverythingBoxi2) July 6, 2026
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