BoxRec

Murat Gassiev vs. Mike Balogun Set For March 3 in Yerevan

Former unified cruiserweight world champion Murat Gassiev is scheduled to return to the ring on March 3 in Yerevan.

Gassiev will face American heavyweight contender Mike Balogun in the main event of a card taking place at the Demirchyan Arena.

The event’s general partner is the Liga Stavok betting company, while the organizers are promotional outfits Patriot and Ural Boxing Promotions.

Gassiev is currently the Eurasian Boxing Parliament (EPB) heavyweight champion.

Gassiev (29-1, 22 KOs) moved up to the heavyweight division in 2020, after more than a two-year layoff due to injuries and promotional disputes.

He lost his unified cruiserweight crown, by way of decision, in a high stakes clash with Oleksandr Usyk in the final bout of the 2018 World Boxing Super Series cruiserweight tournament.

Gassiev, 29-years-old, has not been very active with only a single fight in 2020, 2021 and 2022. He last saw action in August of 2022 with a first round knockout of Carlouse Welch.

Balogun (20-0, 16 KOs) is a rugged heavyweight with heavy hands.

In December of 2021, he pulled off an unexpected upset when he knocked out unbeaten Trey Lippe Morrison - son of Tommy Morrison - in one round. Last year, he picked up two more knockout victories inside of two rounds.

This is a type of an opponent Gassiev should have faced after his layoff, but instead he fought 3 absolute sh1thouses and stretched doing it for another couple of years. People were saying the stuff like "He's so young, the future holds a lot for him", after he had lost to Usyk, but now he's almost 30 and did nothing significant since then. Balogun is the first more or less living opponent.

first i'd heard of it and it's only 2 weeks away, at least not a long wait. yes, balogun is a better opponent than the previous cans but he still shoulda fought a guy like this 3 years ago when he was first starting at hw

as usual when he fights these days, all else i can say is that i hope this is the start of more activity and better opponents for him. he has the tools to at minimum be a top 20 heavy and he shouldnt waste his career like he has been

Was announced about a week back.

Don’t hate this. But got to keep active from now on.

Interesting matchup

Balogun looked impressive destroying one of the Morrison boys but this is a big step up.

I might have pressed the wrong button on this poll. Gassiev looks to win on points but if Balogun connects he has the power to surprise a few.

All in all its a decent matchup

funso banjo baby wrote: ↑21 Feb 2023, 07:23 Interesting matchup

Balogun looked impressive destroying one of the Morrison boys but this is a big step up.

I might have pressed the wrong button on this poll. Gassiev looks to win on points but if Balogun connects he has the power to surprise a few.

All in all its a decent matchup

I agree. Solid post.

Fight Week!!

Gassiev needs to stop selling himself short and challenge himself a bit. He's not that bad, but his matchmaker seems to think he is. Dude hasn't even lasted 5 rounds in a heavyweight fight yet. I.e. he isn't even close to being challenged by his matchmaking.

Might be a free link going somewhere.

any channels showing this ?

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑03 Mar 2023, 07:40 Might be a free link going somewhere.

stevec@france wrote: ↑03 Mar 2023, 12:45 any channels showing this ?

Thanks.
Any ideas on Gassiev’s fight

Ruthie me oul mucker. Whens the main fight go down. Its 1.30 am here in Vietnam so i dont think the time difference will be too much. I have 5 more valium and 6 more cans of tiger. So if its on next few hours im in

watsupdoc87 wrote: ↑03 Mar 2023, 14:31 Ruthie me oul mucker. Whens the main fight go down. Its 1.30 am here in Vietnam so i dont think the time difference will be too much. I have 5 more valium and 6 more cans of tiger. So if its on next few hours im in

Based on the local time, I wanna say 2 hours from now.

Don’t take my word for it lol

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑03 Mar 2023, 14:33

watsupdoc87 wrote: ↑03 Mar 2023, 14:31 Ruthie me oul mucker. Whens the main fight go down. Its 1.30 am here in Vietnam so i dont think the time difference will be too much. I have 5 more valium and 6 more cans of tiger. So if its on next few hours im in

Based on the local time, I wanna say 2 hours from now.

Don’t take my word for it lol

Cheers mate. Ive been on my usual dodgy streams to no avail. Is the video afew post up going to show the gassiev fight or just prelims mate

According to Boxrec, which may be wrong, but there's only 2 fights to go. 12 rounds total. They're in Armenia so 4 hours ahead.

Proper under the radar this one, much like Gassiev for the past few years.....
Could these years of relative inactivity come to haunt him tonight?

Fightnight Scores wrote: ↑03 Mar 2023, 14:41 Proper under the radar this one, much like Gassiev for the past few years.....
Could these years of relative inactivity come to haunt him tonight?

Imagine being an elite sportsman and not trying to make the most out of your career in your prime years. He could've stayed at Cruiserweight and probably been consensus #1 for the past 5 years.

Any way i can watch this

watsupdoc87 wrote: ↑03 Mar 2023, 16:26 Any way i can watch this

Cjeers bro

Both guys are looking small for heavyweights.

gass has a look at balo in first round

then flattens him with overhand right in 2nd

gass still has that explosiveness to his shots, should be minimum top 20 hw if he can actually f@cking keep active at the weight