Murat Gassiev targets Dubois and Moses Itauma
The newly crowned WBA heavyweight champion has his sights set on two of Britain's biggest heavyweight stars after defending his world title.
Daniel Dubois and Moses Itauma are both in the sights of a two-division world champion.
After working their way to the top with strong performances in recent years, they are now expected to replace fighters who are slowly getting older, such as Anthony Joshua or Tyson Fury.
In particular, Moses Itauma who, at just 21 years old, has already won 14 fights, 12 of them by knockout, is currently considered one of the heavyweight division’s brightest prospects. His athleticism, speed, and punching power really stand out.
Daniel Dubois, on the other hand, is 28 years old and has had a rather up-and-down career so far. After losses to Joe Joyce and Oleksandr Usyk, he had to fight his way back up, which he did. He has been world champion twice and is the current WBO champion after defeating Fabio Wardley in May.
And it is precisely these two who are now set to fight for the next title.
Following Murat Gassiev’s most recent victory, his promoter, Al Siesta, posted a challenge to the two young fighters on X.
“Daniel Dubois, Moses Itauma, he’s the guy, we’re coming for you very soon.”
he wrote.
After Oleksandr Usyk vacated his titles, Murat Gassiev was crowned WBA world champion and has already defended the title against Peter Kadiru.
So facing Murat Gassiev should now be of interest to any boxer, especially Daniel Dubois, who is aiming to unify his heavyweight titles.
However, before any negotiations can take place, Moses Itauma must first defeat Filip Hrgović. Daniel Dubois also has to face Fabio Wardley in a rematch before the end of the year.
So it might still be a while before we see any of these fights. But according to Murat Gassiev’s promoter, the direction is definitely clear.
I think it's great that Murat Gassiev is taking on the big names on his own, independent of the others. That way, he can test himself, just as the others can. This will certainly be particularly interesting for Moses Itauma. The young boxer surely wants to win the title early on, and this would be a good opportunity. I'm curious to see when we'll get to see a fight like this.