According to Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn, Murat Gassiev is currently in negotiations for hi first defence as sole WBA heavyweight champion.
The Russian, who holds the ‘regular’ belt with the sanctioning body, became a bona fide two-division world champion in June, with Oleksandr Usyk’s splintering of the belts meaning there no longer a ‘super’ champion.
Gassiev then ended up retaining his championship status last month, stopping late replacement Peter Kadiru in six rounds after Tony Yoka was forced to pull out of their contest with an injury.
Since then, the 32-year-old has expressed his interest in a unification match, hoping to replicate his success at 200lbs by merging two of the four major belts.
Before that, though, Gassiev may need to defend his strap against Jarrell Miller who, as per Hearn’s latest comments on the matter, is now being steered towards a WBA title shot.
This follows the WBA’s admission to mistakenly naming ‘Big Baby’ as its mandatory challenger, despite having Moses Itauma as the leading contender in its rankings.
With Itauma now facing Filip Hrgovic for the vacant IBF title, however, it could be that Miller will emerge as the sanctioning body’s mandatory challenger after all.
Either way, Hearn has told IFL TV that Gassiev must defend his title against the American.
“There’s a little bit of confusion with the WBA [belt]. Gassiev is the champion. He’s got to fight Jarrell Miller, our guy, which we’re negotiating at the moment.”
Given his previous failed doping tests, Miller remains a controversial fighter but is seemingly on the cusp of another major opportunity.
