Aleksandr Usyk did what most fans expected him to do in defeating Murat Gassiev on Saturday night in a lopsided 12 round unanimous decision in a master class performance in the World Boxing Super Series final in Moscow, Russia. After winning the Muhammad Ali Trophy, Usyk (15-0, 11 KOs) turned his sights to heavyweight contender Tony Bellew (30-2-1, 20 KOs). Usyk wants that fight. Bellew’s promoter Eddie Hearn doesn’t want to let him fight Usyk, so that’s the end of story. Usyk will need to call out someone else for his next fight because Bellew won’t face him. Since Usyk is moving up to heavyweight, he should perhaps go after the likes of Luis Ortiz or Dillian Whyte. Those are doable fights for Usyk. Gassiev landed some nice shots in the fight, but they were single shots and not enough to do real damage the way he needed to. Gassiev was too slow to follow up with shots each time he would land a nice punch. Gassiev had his best success in the fight in landing body shots. He was able to connect to the body effectively, but he didn’t land enough of them to do damage. Usyk had too much foot speed for the slow-footed Gassiev, and this allowed him to control the fight from the first round. When Gassiev would cut off the ring on Usyk, he would force jabs into his face and nail him with right-left combinations that made it impossible for him to land. Usyk changes directions frequently in moving around the ring, and he had Usyk looking totally befuddled. From the 10th, Usyk started putting his punches together in hitting Usyk wih flurries. Usyk came out on top by the scores 120-108, 119-109 and 119-109 at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, Russia. The fight was embarrassingly one-sided in favor of Usyk. Gassiev had no chance due to his lack of hand speed and his unwillingness to go after Usyk full throttle like a warrior. The organizers for the World Boxing Super Series tournament likely weren’t too happy with the lack of excitement for tonight’s finals match, as it was not great television. Gassiev didn’t want to fight, and all Usyk was interested in doing was boxing. Exciting this was not. The right guy go the decision, but there was no drama, making the fight was hard to sit through. read more https://www.boxingnews24.com/2018/07/aleksandr-usyk-beats-murat-gassiev-calls-out-tony-bellew/
