Gassiev marks first WBA heavyweight title defense by stopping Kadiru in round 6
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July 11, 2026
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MOSCOW (AP) — Murat Gassiev marked the first defense of his WBA world heavyweight title by stopping Peter Kadiru in the sixth round Saturday.
Kadiru’s corner threw in the towel after a sustained attack by the champion, who took his career record to 34-2.
Gassiev was originally meant to face Tony Yoka for the WBA’s secondary heavyweight crown but got an upgrade to the full title, and a new opponent, after unified champion Oleksandr Usyk vacated his belts last month.
Yoka pulled out with a back injury and Kadiru (23-2), a German with a record of fighting largely unheralded opponents, was made a surprise replacement challenger at short notice.
Gassiev has followed Usyk in holding titles at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Usyk beat Gassiev in 2018 to take the two belts he held at the time and unify the cruiserweight division, before moving up to heavyweight a year later.
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