"Murat Gassiev is the hardest puncher I've ever been in a ring with" - Ola Afolabi

Damn! I just read he'd only turned 23 in October.
With Abel Sanchez in his corner, he has the potential to be a truly elite fighter. Abel did so well with GGG over that longer time period.

 

I wonder if he can go up to HW eventually and be a big star ...

What about now? Can he beat Ruiz Jr for example?

 

He'd definitely have a serious speed advantage over Ruiz Jr for instance, but the size disparity between Gassiev and Joshua, Fury, Wilder, Pulev, Parker, Ortiz and even Browne would likely be too much for his speed and power to overcome.

We all know that Ruiz Jr is likely to be outpointed next weekend, and with the solid purse in hand, the career lack of dedication(looks like anyway), we have another Arreola 2.0 on our hands, and even a caveman like Huck could come up from CW to beat him.

 

It's scary how much Jones looks like a late career Holmes at this point....

 

I like your analysis, although I think he'd do a little better than that.

Joshua, Fury, Wilder are too big, agreed. Ortiz very tough as well. But I'd only have Parker a slight favourite, Gassiev has about the same height and reach after all. I'd give him a decent chance against Pulev (who is also not that big and past his best) and I'd make him the favourite against Browne (who is very slow). Gassiev seems quite disciplined and just needs to stay away from the big right hand. Huck drew with Povetkin in my book, and: 1) Gassiev could be better than Huck imo 2) Povetkin would probably be favourite against Parker, this version of Pulev, Browne for sure.

Just my two cents' worth.

 

You guys have gotten me interesting in this guy....I'll look up his youtube fights. Assuming
there are any available.

 

CST ...do you think Gassiev can eventually beat Usyk or do whatever he needs to do to be the clear #1 in the division? Does he have the talent?

 

He's a CW Kovalev.

Not nearly skilled enough to be compared to GGG, but definitely the powerhouse of the division, in spite of guys like Dorticos, Kudryashov, Drozd the seemingly more menacing in appearance.

 

Stylistically I think the Kovalev comparison is quite apt, and both have huge power of course.

There is a slight difference though. Kovalev is a large LHW but Gassiev is a huge CW. He absolutely dwarfed Lebedev on Saturday! Sizewise he's comparatively more like Gvozdyk who is a gigantic LHW.

 

Kovalev is AVERAGE for a LHW. Tall and lanky yes, but by no measure large considering he was almost guaranteed the smaller fighter in his robbery L to Fraud, and imagine Beterbiev and Kovalev in a pre-fight weigh in.
Kovalev goes 185 into the ring. Beterbiev and Stevenson(short, BUT)....both near the CW limit.

 

Well, ok. Looks like a hairier Beterbiev. Doesn't look like he has the frame to fight
super HW's unless he pulls and Adamek and just gets fat.

Should be a CW power for years to come. But he DOES get hit to the head a bit too much.
That would hurt him against the really big guys, although he has a very good chin at 190.

 

Yeah, that's fair enough and strengthens my point anyway. From a quick boxrec check of the top 20 or so, he seems average size for the top LHWs and a little bigger than average if I go down a bit further.

IMO he's a great fighter but he wouldn't get anywhere at cruiser.