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Former cruiserweight titleholder Murat Gassiev was scheduled to make his official move to heavyweight on July 27 in a fight against Joey Dawejko on DAZN, part of the Hooker-Ramirez card in Texas, but that fight is off.
According to Mike Coppinger, Gassiev has suffered a shoulder injury in training.
Gassiev (26-1, 19 KO) hasn’t fought since July 2018, when he lost a wide decision to Oleksandr Usyk in the World Boxing Super Series final, which was also a bout for all four major cruiserweight titles. Gassiev had previously beaten Krzysztof Wlodarczyk and Yuniel Dorticos in tournament action. He also beat Denis Lebedev in 2016.
The 25-year-old Gassiev is not exactly Usyk — that was made clear when they fought — but he is a potentially interesting addition to the heavyweight ranks. He’ll make his move up eventually, as Usyk will, but both having their attempts to come up postponed by injury in training camp has certainly been disappointing.