“It was pathetic to see his actions.” Coach Bivola sees no prospects for Gassiev in heavyweight division

Saturday in Belek, Turkey, a Russian Murat Gassiev lost to Swede Otto Wallin by split decision (113:115, 117:111, 113:115) and suffered his second career defeat and first in the heavyweight division. Gassiev has been competing in the former WBA and IBF heavyweight champion’s royal division since the fall of 2020, and through September 30, 2023, the Russian has scored four early victories against opposition that was far from strong, for the least.

“” asked the trainer of the WBA light heavyweight champion, Russian Dmitry Bivol, Gennady Mashyanov to analyze the actions of Gassiev in the fight with Wallin. The verdict was disappointing.

“GASSIEV JUST HAS A POOR SKILL SET”

– Following the results of the fight, I immediately want to ask a question: do you agree with the two judges who gave victory to Wallin?

– Without a doubt, Murat lost, there are no questions to ask the judges. Specifically, there is a question for the judge, who gave 117:111 in favor of Gassiev. And the other two judges fairly awarded it to the Swede.

— Analyze Gassiev’s actions. Basically, what was wrong?

— The question is not about tactics. After all, tactics depend on what kind of arsenal the boxer has. And Gassiev’s technical arsenal is so poor… You could say he’s a beggar. He cannot move or… He only has two strikes: one to the left or one to the right. Well, there is also a half-direct and half-lateral straight line. There is nothing else in the arsenal. How to build a battle on this? Yes, Mother Nature rewarded Murat with a powerful blow. But that’s all! In the first heavyweight there were smaller people and Gassiev, basically, solved problems by force. He found one or two moments and condemned people. And now at heavyweight people are holding on, while opponents have different data. And people calmly tolerate these blows from Gassiev, it doesn’t bother them. But Murat fails to beat his opponent.

And Wallin’s not that big. I’m not talking about the height (197 cm), but the mass of this Swede. Wallin is also far from a strong boxer. But even compared to him, Gassiev looked like a child. The Swede calmly absorbed even the fleeting blows. Although Gassiev’s performance didn’t really include any free kicks that could have rattled Wallin. And that’s how we saw Murat execute a blow, a two, a clinch, a save. It’s a lack of training and basics.

— How do you see Gassiev’s prospects?

“It seems to me that he has no prospects in the heavyweight division at world level. If he goes down to the first heavyweight, then because of his power maybe someone… But there is no one in particular in the cruisers. There’s nothing like these big guys.

And you saw that this Swede also spoke well with Gassiev. Although there was no attacker there, he simply brushed it aside and due to the mass this hit happened. Well, Wallin wasn’t charging at all.

Well, Gassiev will fight with the same Bakhodir Zhalolov (2020 Olympic champion, two-time world champion of Uzbekistan, as a professional – 13-0, KO 13. – Rating “”)… I don’t know whether Gassiev will last until the middle of the fight.

— Okay, how can you characterize Wallin?

— An ordinary middle peasant. There’s nothing phenomenal about it. He doesn’t hit. Just through his intelligence and moves, he was simply surpassing Murata calmly now. Wallin did the same thing – he continued to move behind his front leg, continued to move to the right, then left Gassiev by the hand. And Murat couldn’t do anything. Was it really impossible to change lanes? Well, don’t let go of him by the arm, hit him more often with your left kick. No… Well, what can I say. I just feel sorry for Murat, it was a shame to see his helplessness, his limits.

“CANELO MAY BE AT THE END OF CAREER TO ACCEPT A RENOVA WITH BIVOL TO LOSE BUT TO WIN GAINS”

— A little later than the fight between Gassiev and Wallin, in Las Vegas there was a fight between the absolute super middleweight world champion, the Mexican Saul Alvarez, who defended his belts in a fight against the world champion absolute junior middleweight, the American Jermell Charlo. This meeting ended with Canelo’s victory by unanimous decision. Do you agree that to understand the picture, just look at the judges’ notes – 119:108, 118:109, 118:109?

– Yes, there was no chance for Charlo. We spoke before the fight and I said I didn’t see any prospects for Charlo. It was too early for the armchair experts to say that Alvarez was no longer the same, that he had aged. He was Alvarez and he still is. Everything that came before remains with him. He is 33 years old, it is the dawn of age. Charlo missed him several times, either in the shoulder or in the ribs, and he just didn’t want to box, he turned into reverse, running away, just so as not to miss the same punch at the head. Even though he always had it. And when Charlo missed, he was so shocked.

“But Charlo made a lot of money.”

— I don’t know the amount, but I won it, yes, good (laughs).

— Will Alvarez have a rematch with Bivol, or should we forget about this issue?

– (Laughs). I do not even know. Alvarez fought the first of three fights under his contract on the new channel. And then, perhaps, he will charge such an amount that even if he loses, he will have enough to retire. Roughly speaking, [реванш с Биволом] in order to win the last jackpot. Alvarez is proud and ambitious. And this defeat of Dima eats Canelo from the inside. Watch his pre-fight interview with Charlo, where he talked about Dima. Well, take it with a smile. We have already discussed this with you. Well, if you are looking for an excuse, go out for revenge and prove that you are the best.

PS Mashyanov spoke a few days ago about the situation in Bivol’s career

— Well, in conclusion, I would like to ask, do you believe in the need for a fight for the absolute champion title between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usik? It seems that there has been an official announcement regarding the signing of the contract (without exact dates), but it seems that I can’t completely believe it.

— I saw the ad. But here the situation is this… Fury is such a person… He said one thing today, tomorrow he will say something else. They had already had negotiations and someone finally refused. In general, I don’t know if they will be able to organize a fight or not.

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