Murat Gassiev explains why Moses Itauma fight isn’t happening next despite mandatory status

Many anticipated that Murat Gassiev would be defending his WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight title against Moses Itauma next.

After all, the Chatham southpaw is the mandatory for the black and gold strap.

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Gassiev’s predecessor Kubrat Pulev had been ordered to defend the WBA belt against Itauma last year.

However, Pulev and Gassiev reached an agreement for a voluntary defence before the WBA sought its resolution.

Pulev vs Gassiev was therefore permitted to go ahead on the condition that whoever emerged victorious would immediately defend the belt against Itauma.

Gassiev went on to score a brutal sixth round knockout victory over Pulev in December.

And while Gassiev was ready and willing to take on Itauma next, the Brit opted to go another route.

Itauma is now expected to box Filip Hrgovic at the back end of August, while Gassiev will make the first defence of his WBA ‘regular’ belt against Tony Yoka on July 11 in Moscow, Russia.

“[In February] I said, ‘Ok, let’s talk,” Gassiev told talkSPORT.com of the negotiations for his next fight.

“Some negotiations, some talks, some promoters, managers, teams, no problem, just give me the location, time, date, and let’s fight.

“But it’s boxing – this is a serious business. Maybe it’s not the perfect time for this fight right now.

“Maybe after July we will fight, or maybe next year.

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“Moses has a good team, a good promoter, a good manager, and a good coach.

” [I think] his team makes this fight [with Hrgovic] because it is the best for him right now, because he’s young, maybe he doesn’t have the experience.

“Maybe for his career this fight with Hrgovic is perfect.”

While Gassiev is willing to revisit a fight with Itauma, he is by no means overlooking Rio 2016 Olympic gold medallist Yoka.

“I watched the Olympic Games, [when] he won the gold medal,” Gassiev added.

“He is a big fighter with good boxing skills.

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“This is a very very hard fight for me. He beat the best fighters in the world as an amateur.

“He is a warrior and he is coming to beat me, so I am ready for this…

“Right now, all I care about is this fight.”

Yoka (15-3) is in the midst of career rebuild after a disastrous 19 months that saw the Frenchman lose three consecutive fights to Martin Bakole, Carlos Takam, and Ryad Mehry between 2022 and 2023.

He was due to box Lawrence Okolie in a WBC eliminator bout on April 25, but the card was cancelled after the Brit tested positive for the banned human growth hormone (HGH) stimulator GHRP-2.

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