Usyk dominates Gassiev to unify WBC, WBA, WBO, IBF titles



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Oleksandr Usyk took Murat Gassiev to school Saturday night.

The clever and skillful southpaw masterfully out-boxed the striking Gassiev in their 12-round cruiserweight title unification bout at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow. . The Ukrainian Usyk used his stiff jab throughout his fight, obtained occasional combinations, defended himself well against Gassiev's right hand and won the unanimous decision to become the undisputed champion of their division.

Each of the three judges – Americans Mauro Di Fiore (119-109) and Robin Taylor (120-108) and Belgian Philippe Verbeke (119-109) – credited Usyk with a decisive win in the tournament final cruiserweight of the World Boxing Super Series. The 31-year-old Usyk (15-0, 11 KOs) defended his WBC and WBO cruiserweight titles and took the IBF and WBA Russian crowns Gassiev (26-1, 19 KOs).

As the World Boxing Super Series The cruiserweight champion, Usyk, also won the Muhammad Ali Trophy

Usyk, Olympic gold medalist in 2012, has beaten at a rate too fast for Gassiev, who was rarely able to hit Usyk with hard knocks. Sometimes, towards the end of their fight, Gassiev seemed discouraged and resigned to losing a decision.

The elusive Usyk spent the last two rounds poking Gassiev with his jab, connecting with straight hooks and moving away from Gassiev's right hand. ]  usyk-gassiev-weights (3) _1

The left-uppercut-left hook combination of Usyk connected about a minute into the 10th turn. Usyk also supported Gassiev with a right hook just after the 10th half-lap.

Usyk continued to outclass Gassiev in the ninth round, when he worked from his jab and threw casual combinations that prevented Gassiev from leaving his hands go.

Usyk's skill earned him the eighth round, while he was constantly pumping his jab and coming out of Gassiev's strike zone. The combination of four shots of Andyk supported Gassiev and was the climax of the eighth round.

Referee Celestino Ruiz warned Gassiev for a low shot in a third straight round when Gassiev shot a shot under Usyk's belt in the seventh round. Gassiev missed a good right hand later in the seventh, during which Usyk continued to box and defend well.

Gassiev picked up a left hook shortly after the middle of the sixth round, but Usyk fought back with a good combination that landed. Ruiz warned Gassiev for a low blow in the sixth, the second straight round he warned Gassiev.

Gassiev's hard right hand shook Usyk at the end of the fourth lap, but he started the fifth lap on strong legs and pumped his jab and moved away from Gassiev's dominant hand. Ruiz warned Gassiev for a low blow with about 30 seconds to play in the fifth round

Gassiev's right hand took Andyk in full possession of his jaws and forced him to hold just before the end of the fourth round .

Back to Gassiev's head with about two minutes left in the fourth round. About a minute later, Usyk pulled away and made Gassiev wildly missing with a right hand.

Gassiev, a left-back, skimmed the flank of Usyk's head and was his best punch of the third round

. left hook to the body with a little more than two minutes to go to the second round. Gassiev came into contact with another body member at the end of the second round

Usyk got nothing heavy in the first round, but he controlled it with his jab and his activity. Usyk also moved in the opposite direction of Gassiev's dangerous right hand throughout the first round

Gassiev advanced to the final by eliminating Cuba's Yunier Dorticos (22-1, 21 KOs) in the 12th round of his half Final on February 3 in Sochi, Russia. Usyk reached the final by beating Mairis Briedis (24-1, 18 KO) by majority decision in his semifinal on Jan. 27 in Riga, Latvia, the hometown of Briedis

Gassiev and Usyk were to meet in the WBSS final on May 11th. Jeddah. Saudi Arabia. Usyk suffered an elbow injury at the training, however, and it was postponed until Saturday and moved to Moscow.

Keith Idec is a senior writer / columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.

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