Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> in the 2018 World Boxing Super Series final and Otto Wallin in 2021.<\/p>\n\u201cIt is an honour to defend the WBA World Heavyweight Title for the first time, and to do it at home in front of my Russian fans makes it extra special,\u201d Gassiev said in a statement released by the promotion. \u201cTony Yoka is a tremendous champion, an Olympic gold medallist, a big, strong heavyweight with serious skills. I have huge respect for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yoka Chasing French History<\/p>\n
Yoka (15-3, 12 KOs) won super-heavyweight gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics before turning professional later that year. The 6-foot-7 Parisian, who trains under Don Charles and is promoted by Frank Warren\u2019s Queensberry Promotions, would become France\u2019s first male professional heavyweight world champion with a victory.<\/p>\n
The 33-year-old has lost three of his last seven bouts, including a 2022 decision defeat to Carlos Takam and back-to-back losses to Martin Bakole and Ryad Merhy. He has won three straight since linking up with Charles, most recently stopping Petar Milas in 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m 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,\u201d Yoka said in the release. \u201cI\u2019ve been working hard for over two years now with Don Charles and I\u2019m ready to showcase to the boxing world the changes in my professional Boxing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warren added: \u201cThis is a great fight and one that we at Queensberry truly believe our man will win. Tony and Don Charles have been working extremely hard in the gym, so we fully expect them to go to Russia and do the business against a tough opponent in Gassiev and bring the title back to France.\u201d<\/p>\n
IBA Pro 19<\/p>\n
The event is sanctioned under the IBA Pro banner, the professional arm of the International Boxing Association headed by Umar Kremlev. The undercard and broadcast details have not yet been announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cMurat Gassiev and Tony Yoka represent the absolute pinnacle of boxing excellence,\u201d Kremlev said in the release. \u201cOne an incredible WBA world champion defending his crown at home, the other a legendary Olympic gold medallist fighting for professional glory.\u201d<\/p>\n
IBA Pro 19 takes place Saturday, July 11 in Moscow. Tickets are on sale through the promotion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WBA heavyweight champion Murat Gassiev will make the first defense of his title against 2016 Olympic gold medalist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697957,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-697956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697956"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697956\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}