The upper echelon of the heavyweight division will continue to take shape this summer after it was officially announced that Murat Gassiev and Tony Yoka are set to do battle.
Former cruiserweight world champion Gassiev won the WBA Regular heavyweight title back in December with a sixth round stoppage win over Kubrat Pulev, and had been linked to make a defence of that belt against rising star Moses Itauma.
Instead, he will now meet Olympic gold medallist Yoka, who had due to compete last month until planned opponent Lawrence Okolie was forced to pull out after a failed drugs test, with the Frenchman now given a chance to challenge for a version of the world title.
Gassiev and Yoka will meet at the VTB Arena in Moscow on July 11, and the Russian is expecting a difficult challenge but remains confident of success.
“Tony Yoka is an Olympic Champion. He is a big, strong, experienced boxer with a solid amateur background. He is an Olympic champion, and this definitely won’t be an easy fight. That said, I believe I have a greater desire to retain my title and to beat him.”
Yoka is trained by Don Charles, who recently guided Daniel Dubois back to the world heavyweight title, and the 34-year-old believes that will be pivotal in the match-up with Gassiev.
“I’m going to win this world title for all my people in France and Congo that have not only stuck with me, but still believe in me becoming a professional world champion.
“I’ve been working hard for over two years now with Don Charles and I’m ready to showcase to the boxing world the changes in my professional boxing.”
With unified world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk seemingly nearing the end of his career, the winner of July’s bout may place themselves in a good position to potentially be upgraded to full WBA champion at some stage in the future.
