{"id":728797,"date":"2026-08-06T00:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/728797\/"},"modified":"2026-08-06T00:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T00:18:16","slug":"heavyweight-champion-murat-gassiev-dismisses-kabayel-unification-rumours-as-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/728797\/","title":{"rendered":"Heavyweight champion Murat Gassiev dismisses Kabayel unification rumours as ‘fake news’"},"content":{"rendered":"

While fans are perhaps already salivating over a potential unification clash between Murat Gassiev and Agit Kabayel, it could be some time before they finally indulge in the mouth-watering matchup.<\/p>\n

It was reported earlier this month that Spencer Brown, the manager of WBC heavyweight champion Kabayel, is targeting Gassiev as a possible opponent<\/a> for later this year.<\/p>\n

But while the WBA champion is, indeed, looking to fight once more in 2026, he has equally told Boxing News that those comments came as a complete surprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cI woke up and saw some messages from my friends saying, \u2018Hey, you\u2019re fighting Kabayel\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I never heard about this. After my fight [a sixth-round stoppage of Peter Kadiru earlier this month], I told my team: \u2018Don\u2019t talk to me about boxing, because now I\u2019m spending time with my family\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter a couple of weeks, or maybe one month, we\u2019ll start talking. But [the Kabayel unification rumours] are not true. This is fake news.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut maybe it can happen after one fight, or a year. It\u2019s a great fight. Agit is a great champion \u2013 a very strong fighter.\u201d<\/p>\n

While putting the Kabayel showdown on hold \u2013 for now, at least \u2013 Gassiev knows there are several other heavyweights he could face later this year.<\/p>\n

Perhaps representing a more realistic option for 2027 but Moses Itauma, who faces Filip Hrgovic on August 29, will surely be sniffing around for a major title shot if he emerges victorious at London\u2019s O2 Arena.<\/p>\n

Having already expressed an interest in their possible encounter, Gassiev maintains his willingness to face the heavyweight prodigy on away soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoses is a young fighter, very talented. I think he has a good future. If they think [facing me] is the right fight after [Hrgovic], then let\u2019s do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never run; I\u2019m never scared. If this fight happens, I\u2019ll come to the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of whether the Itauma fight materialises, Gassiev\u2019s ultimate goal is to replicate his cruiserweight achievement and unify the heavyweight division.<\/p>\n

The path towards doing so became clearer after Oleksandr Usyk, his former opponent, vacated his three world titles<\/a> last month, affording Gassiev an upgrade from \u2018regular\u2019 to full WBA champion.<\/p>\n

But even after becoming aware of this news, the 32-year-old felt no different to how he did following his sixth-round finish over Kubrat Pulev last December.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, nothing changed. After the fight against Pulev, I had the regular title. But my dream is to be a [two-weight] unified world champion. I only go forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking of Usyk, Gassiev harbours no bitterness over how their careers unfolded after the Ukrainian emerged as the undisputed cruiserweight king in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cUsyk went left; I went right. He\u2019s had a sensational career, whereas I went the other way and had a lot of injuries and some problems with promoters. But these things just made me stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having made the necessary improvements at heavyweight, Gassiev believes he has the power to knock anyone out, whether it be against Kabayel, Itauma or some other opponent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While fans are perhaps already salivating over a potential unification clash between Murat Gassiev and Agit Kabayel, it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728798,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-728797","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728797","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=728797"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/728797\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/728798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=728797"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=728797"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=728797"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}