Dominant Gassiev TKOs Kadiru in 6th, retains WBA heavyweight title
Heavyweight Artem Suslenkov makes Joe Joyce quit during 11th round
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WBA heavyweight titlist Murat Gassiev won every round with ease before the corner of late-replacement challenger Peter Kadiru threw in the towel in the sixth round of the main event of an IBA Pro card on Saturday at VTB Arena in Moscow.
Gassiev was the WBA’s “regular” titleholder but became its lone heavyweight titlist when lineal and unified champion Oleksandr Usyk vacated his three remaining sanctioning body belts on June 26.
Gassiev was scheduled to make his first defense against Tony Yoka (15-3, 12 KOs), 34, the 2016 French Olympic super heavyweight gold medalist, but he suffered a back injury during training and was forced to withdraw from the bout on July 2.
So Kadiru, who had won nine fights in a row since a first-round knockout to journeyman Marcos Antonio Aumada in November 2022 in his hometown of Hamburg, Germany, signed for the fight on six days’ notice, although he had just fought on May 15.
