Saturday, July 27th @ College Park Center in Arlington, TX. Scheduled for 10 rounds @ heavyweight, this will be Gassy's debut in the division as well as under his exclusive broadcast deal with DAZN. Dawejko has lost three on the spin, but has erstwhile been known as generally a tough out for prospects & contenders alike. He is giving up 5½″ inches of height and six inches of reach to Gassiev, who is climbing up from cruiser. I'm not sure Dawejko, while he is a credible opponent, is the ideal bridge for Gassiev to cross over and get himself acclimated to size differentials in the unlimited class. If the hard-hitting Russian can stop the Philly roughneck (who in his downtime between fights is a roofer), it will be a big statement. Dawejko is, durability aside, quite a skilled operator, with fourteen US amateur championships to his credit...all of which allows him to compete reasonably well against super heavies despite his diminutive stature & girth.
Murat sends Dawejko's head hurdling into the third row in 3. People will be floored at how easily and ghoulishly Gassiev disposes of this tubby little munchkin. And yeah, I know... Joey is very durable, but Gassiev's power is very REAL, and Joey gets hits flush way too much, especially by hooks, to not be affected by it and early. He'll wake up with tweety birds flying around his head, and say.... Chickens!!!
...and that'll be a huge statement, like I said, because Joey has gone the distance with Miller, Fedosov, Mansour, Kuzmin, Hernandez and Jennings...and barely ever been wobbled. His only stoppage was against Charles Martin and that had nothing to do with his chin (or Martin's power) and everything to do with taking it on a few days notice in especially poor shape and gassing out within minutes.
Hooker gets beaned by a left hook he never sees coming and doesn't make the count, and that'll be after he outboxes Ramrez for 3 or 4 rounds.
Definitely. But as @Serge always says, CW level>>>>>>>>>>HW level. And yeah, I've seen the 80's camcordered footage of the Martin fight, IIRC, he wasn't reacting all that well to Martin's shots, but that's probably because he was visibly gassing, as you said. Also he did get rocked pretty badly late in the Jennings match, had that been a 12 rounder, I think Bryant could have gotten a standing TKO type stoppage.
CW Level>>HW Level It will be a big statement if Gassiev does stop Dawejko though because the later is very durable, has fought some big punching HWs like Mansour, Federsov, Kuzmin, 300lb walking PED factory Big Baby Miller and AFAIA has only been down against Prince Charlie Martin, and Gassiev is coming off a whole year of inactivity and back from multiple surgeries (shoulder surgery, right hand and his nose). Dawejko always gives a very good account of himself even when he loses too so if Gassiev gets him out of there it will be very impressive and if he's at his best I believe he can do it.
Meant to vote Gassiev by stoppage but voted by UD instead on accident. Will be good to see Gassiev back in action.
I voted Gassiev by KO, but that's baaed on pre-Usyk Gassiev. Let's be real, THAT Gassiev is almost assuredly history. I'd change my vote to Joey by KO right now if I could. He's got an awkward and unorthodox style that almost always sees him to the end and he's got more fight in his left pinky nail than all of Gassiev.
Getting schooled by the best Cruiserweight in history in my opinion in't reason to assume a guy as young and strong as Gassiev is "history". Hell Pacquiao came back and has been looking like a million bucks after getting taken to school by Floyd. The pre-Usyk is still present and accounted for, physically he didn't take that bad a beating, and mentally, its easy to bounce back from, because.... it's Usyk, so what, most everyone loses to Usyk. Michael Hunter hasn't let it get to him, and neither will Gassiev.
Very true and I hope you're right, but that was a Calzaghe--Lacy type prolonged ass beating, maybe the second worst ass beating in modern times besides Joe C and Lacy. Beatings like that have a history of ruining fighters, not so much physically but mentally.
Not quite the Lacy beating.... ballpark maybe, but for what its worth, Murat just strikes me are far tougher, mentally and physically than Lacy, aside from the Usyk beating, which was a one off, Murat hasn't had to soak up that much punishment, not even against Dorticos or Lebedev, so I think after this long time off, that'll be just what his body needed, and he can come back fresh as a daisy, in what has always in all likelihood his proper division.
I like what you're saying and want it to be true........ Only time will tell I guess. I was also thinking the same as you in regards to the year layoff and how it could really benefit him. What Abel has been able to do with him is incredible. A year training w/ just Sanchez -- if that's how he spent the year, but according to rumors, he has penchant for ballooning in weight and not great training habits when notin camp. Regardless, I LOVE this fight and it's one of my favorite up and coming matches in boxing. I'm gonna be rooting for Dawjko but really like both fighters and will be happy with whoever wins.
