In an IBF heavyweight eliminator, southpaw Otto Wallin (26-1, 14 KOs) edged Murat Gassiev (30-2, 23 KOs) by split decision over twelve rounds on Saturday night at the Regnum Carla Resort in Antalya, Turkey. Tactical fight. Gassiev was aggressive but had trouble landing. Wallin fired a non-stop jab and threw sporadic combinations. Scores were 115-113, 115-113 Wallin, 117-111 Gassiev.
Wallin, 32, has won six straight since suffering his only loss against Tyson Fury in 2019. Former cruiserweight champion Gassiev, 29, suffered his first loss as a heavyweight.
How many predicted this?
Maybe it’s time to start taking that underrated Wallin seriously now?
I hope Wallin gets another bigger fight in the near future so he has a chance to prove himself again.
I expected Gassiev to win exactly, respect to Wallin. As we see in the picture the size difference between both fighters is huge.
Yep! I had Gassiev winning this fight and Wallin proved me wrong. Hopefully this does give him a step up and he can get another big name in there. How about Wallin – Bakole.
Zhang vs Wallin?
Nah zhang deserves a shot at the title. Wallin needs a big win
I agree with Theo. Zhang has put himself on a higher level than Wallin has. Either he fights for the title next or he rematches Hrgovic or fights one of the other mandatory challengers while he waits.
Theo & Lucie, good thinking, you convinced me
Lucie, yep I also thought Gassiev would win, have more power and be too much for Wallin. After watching footage Gassiev just looks very average as a heavyweight. Quite disappointing.
Bakole will be avoided, he is like Zhang, big, powerful, a risk.
He won a split decision and one judge had him losing by 6 rounds. Maybe it’s time to say judges don’t know shit about boxing?
They know how to cheat
Maybe Fury can give him a rematch after getting thrashed by Usyk.
I read elsewhere that Gassiev should have won. Might have to watch the fight and judge for myself. Gassiev always looks small to me. 6’3 and nearly 240lbs is not a small heavyweight, but he sure does look small.
I’ve seen the fight.
Wallin’s boxing was extremely simple.
Always use the jab, move sideways, move back, move away from Gassiev’s punches.
Like taken from the ABC of boxing.
Gassiev could not solve that problem. He failed to get to the body, his punches mostly missed, or didn’t come through, or hit Wallin’s guard.
Most Russians also thought Gassiev did not perform well enough to win.
Wallin wasn’t particularly productive in his boxing either, but still got the job done, in a rather boring and uninteresting fight.
That’s about it.
Zockerbit, yes this fight actually does not prove much about Wallin. He looks nothing more than a well schooled amateur fighter that knows how run and throw light punches to keep scoring points.
Wallin won wide. Gassiev won a round maybe two.
Watch out for Otto you keyboard warriors. He’s for real.
Still got to see him in with a fit and healthy top level heavyweight yet. Think Joshua is a good match up for him
What a lop of shit. Hes twice the size of gassiev and he hides behind a jab. What a coward. #BIGWHITEGERMANCOWARD
Umm Otto happens to be from Sweden.
Jury still out on wallin. Hope he gets his chance to prove himself tho.
A lot of people seem to have Gassiev to win, I’m sure almost if not all have Fury too, to me Fury looked stunned against Wallen and dealt with that cut. My moneys in Francis hoping a Fury gets cut or confused in the ring, styles make fights. 1 dime Francis by ko before round 6. Does anybody know the odds?