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Murat Gassiev’s long-delayed heavyweight debut may finally be on the horizon. Trainer Abel Sanchez tells ESPN’s Steve Kim that his charge will join the February 29th Mikey Garcia-Jessie Vargas card in Frisco, Texas.
Gassiev (26-1, 19 KO) smashed his way to the inaugural WBSS cruiserweight finals with impressive knockouts of Krzysztof Wlodarczyk and Yuniel Dorticos, flooring the former early with a body shot and outlasting the latter in one of 2018’s better wars. He struggled to implement his trademark pressure against Oleksandr Usyk, and subsequently announced his intention to compete at heavyweight after signing with DAZN.
He was set to make his division debut in July against Philly tough guy Joey Dawejko, but ended up injuring his shoulder less than 10 days out. When he steps into the ring, it will be for the first time since July 2018.
Between this and Kal Yafai vs. Roman Gonzalez, this card is on track to be a banger.