Former world champion Murat Gassiev comes back after one-year break to fight against Denmark’s Kem Ljungquist on Saturday night at IBA Champions’ Night in Yerevan, Armenia. 31-year-old Gassiev has 30 victories, including 23 KOs, and 2 losses to his name. Ljungquist, 34, is an unbeaten professional with 18 wins and 11 KOs among them.
‘We prepared in the city of Serpukhov, and everything went well,’ Gassiev said. ‘Ljungquist is a tall southpaw, he’s undefeated. I’m taking this seriously, as I do with all my opponents. Regarding the change of date and location for the fight — these are simply personal issues related to arranging the match. I’m not making a big deal out of it.’
Speaking about his time out, Gassiev mentioned: ‘Right now, there are challenges in organizing fights in general, and the most important is that this one will happen. Of course, I’d like to box more frequently, but, as I mentioned, there are obstacles in scheduling matches. I’m motivated and fully focused on the upcoming fight — I want to put on a good show and make the fans happy.’
Ljungquist, in turn, prepared in Copenhagen.
‘We worked hard with my coach Poul Duvil. We have started 12 weeks ago and have had a great camp with good sparring. This fight is a test for me, I haven’t been fighting overseas in a couple of years. I’m ready to challenge myself and take the next step in my career. I have watched a lot of Gassiev’s fights, he is tough and has a lot of experience. I’m coming to Armenia to fight and give spectators a good performance,’ Ljungquist commented.
The undercard will feature five bouts, which will be announced shortly.
Wow, didn’t know this was scheduled. I didn’t see it on BoxRec. The winner of this fight will be in an interesting spot. Also, what does the IBA have to do with this?
The IBA are hosting a ton of fights. You find their YouTube channel, most of them are on there and Boxrec doesn’t report most of them at all. They literally had a world championship fight last week.
From what I recall, the IBA used to be a minor belt back in the 90’s, I think Joe Goosen had something to do with it. Then there was an IBA involved with amateur boxing that got in corruption trouble and I believe were booted out of involvement with the Olympics. What is it now? I thought they may have become involved with pro fighters in exhibition fights (Michael Hunter may have had such a fight this year).
I thought Gassiev would beat Otto and was kind of surprised when he lost. Ljungquist is just big, he’s okay but he isn’t very good, he’s not a great athlete and he isn’t a great puncher. If Gassiev cannot beat him, then he has no business at heavyweight and should drop to bridger, if not back to cruiserweight, if he can make it.
I thought Gassiev’s days were over but at 31 he still has time to make an impression at heavyweight. Why doesn’t he sign with Matchroom or Frank Warren and get opportunities on the big cards in Riyadh?