By Jim Dower: Newly crowned IBF World cruiserweight champion Murat Gassiev (24-0, 17 KOs) has a goal of moving up to the heavyweight division in the near future after he unifies the cruiserweight division. Gassiev is perhaps the hardest puncher in the cruiserweight division right now. He’s got true one-punch power in this weight class.
If Gassiev were to stay at cruiserweight, he could be a champion for many years. Never the less, Gassiev is still a very flawed fighter with a lot of holes in his game that need to be worked out before he should even consider moving up to heavyweight.
Gassiev struggled in beating 37-year-old Denis Lebedev in defeating him by a 12 round split decision earlier this month on December 3 in Moscow, Russia. Gassiev’s low work rate and slow feet let Lebedev get the better of him in many rounds. This could have been a far easier fight for Gassiev if he had let his hands go more, and if he’d done a better job of cutting off the ring to force the fleet of foot Lebedev to fight him. Gassiev won the fight by the scores 116-112, 116-111, and 114-113 for Lebedev. However, more than a few boxing fans felt that Lebedev had done enough to retain his IBF title due to his high work rate. Two of the judges felt differently. They noted that Gassiev had knocked Lebedev down in round 5 with a body shots, and had pressured him and knocked him around the ring from the force of his big shots in many of the rounds in the second half of the fight.
The 23-year-old Gassiev still needs to win three more belts at cruiserweight before he can move up to heavyweight, and it remains to be seen whether he can in fact do that. Gassiev’s major obstacle standing in his way to win the remaining cruiserweight belts belts is WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk. Gassiev’s slow feet and low work rate would likely haunt him against Usyk, who also entertains the idea of moving up to heavyweight in the future to try and capture a world title.
Gassiev said this to RingTV.com about him moving up to heavyweight in the future:
“For me just being named world champion, I feel good but it’s just a name, but I need to work harder because I want to move up to heavyweight division but, right now, I need three belts in the cruiserweight division.”
At the moment, Gassiev does not look good enough to beat the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk if/when the two of them face each other. The southpaw Usyk is very slick, quick on his feet, hard to hit, and he throws a lot of punches. Usyk can also punch a little. He hits hard enough to score a lot of knockouts.
Usyk’s high work rate makes his power seem even better than it is. Usyk has a two inch reach advantage over Gassiev, and he’s the far more experienced fighter in terms of amateur experience. The 29-year-old Usyk would likely have little problems beating the 23-year-old Gassiev right now. He’s a lot older, and is more polished than the Russian fighter.
If Gassiev plans on fighting Usyk, then he should wait a couple of years before taking that fight if Usyk sticks around that long. He might not. There’s nothing in the cruiserweight division that would hold Usyk there other than Gassiev and perhaps a fight against WBC champion Tony Bellew. The big money for Usyk and for Gassiev is at heavyweight, where they could make a small fortune if they could challenge IBF champion Anthony Joshua for his title.
The 6’3 ½” Gassiev would be a lot shorter than the bigger heavyweights in the division like the 6’6” Joshua, 6’7” Deontay Wilder and 6’9” Tyson Fury. However, height really isn’t that important. Shorter heavyweights can and always have beaten the taller heavyweights. The main problem that Gassiev would have against Joshua or Wilder is his lack of speed and his low work rate. Gassiev is too much of a plodder right now for him to have a chance of beating either of those guys.
Gassiev will need to speed up his attacks and learn how to throw a lot more punches per round if possible. It’s unclear whether Gassiev intentionally limits his work rate due to stamina issues or if he’s simply overthinking by waiting until the right moment to see the perfect opening before letting his mostly single punches go. Whatever the case, Gassiev has had the same problems with his low work rate since he turned pro in 2011, and he doesn’t seem to be improving in that area.
Gassiev’s promoter Leon Margules of Warriors Boxing said this about his fighter’s prospects in the future:
“We believe that Murat, who gets better every day, can become a superstar,” said Margules. “He has the work ethic, size and power to be a champion for a long time. He reminds me a little of Rocky Marciano because of his fighting style and tremendous body attack. He was on (Premier Boxing Champions) telecasts in 2015 and 2016 and there is no reason he will not be on PBC telecasts in the future.”
Gassiev is a lot like Marciano as far as his body punching and power goes. Gassiev is a taller and heavier version of Marciano, who was only 5’11”, 188lbs. Where Marciano was far superior to Gassiev though was in his work rate. Marciano was a punching machine. He never stopped throwing punches, and he wasn’t afraid to get hit. Gassiev is nowhere near Marciano when it comes to work rate, and he doesn’t seemed to be willing to take a shot in order to give one. That’s got to change for Gassiev to be able to deliver his big power shots. I don’t think his defense will ever be good. That’s not news to anyone.
Gassiev just needs to put himself in the best possible position for him to deliver his payload huge power shots by throwing his punches constantly so that he can get his opponents out of there. Lebedev should not have been able to last the 12 round distance against Gassiev on December 3rd if he’d thrown more punches than he did. Gassiev allowed an aging fighter to survive against him by not being consistent with his work rate.