Gassiev Shuts Down Kabayel Unification Talk: 'Fake News'

Murat Gassiev has thrown cold water on reports linking him to a heavyweight unification fight with Agit Kabayel, calling the rumours flat-out false. The 34-2 (27 KO) WBA champion told this outlet he learned about the supposed matchup the same way everyone else did — through messages from friends — after Kabayel's manager Spencer Brown reportedly floated his name for a late-2026 date.

Gassiev, fresh off a sixth-round stoppage of Peter Kadiru earlier this month, said he never heard a word about it and had explicitly told his team to keep boxing talk away from him while he spent time with family. He's not ruling the fight out entirely — he called the 27-0 (19 KO) Kabayel a great, very strong champion — but he wants it clear that nothing is agreed and nothing is imminent.

The Realistic Options

The name that keeps circling is Moses Itauma. The 21-year-old prospect is 14-0 with 12 knockouts and ranked sixth at heavyweight, and he faces Filip Hrgovic at London's O2 Arena on August 29. Win that, and Itauma will be loudly campaigning for a belt. Gassiev says he's game, insisting he never runs and never gets scared, and that he'll travel to the UK if the fight is made.

Realistically, an Itauma showdown feels more like a 2027 proposition than a quick turnaround, but Gassiev's willingness to fight on away soil removes one of the usual sticking points. That matters at heavyweight, where champions can sit on their belts for a year while the negotiations rot.

Full Champion, Same Mindset

Gassiev's status got a bump last month when Oleksandr Usyk vacated his three world titles, upgrading the Russian from 'regular' to full WBA champion. If he was moved by the news, he didn't show it — he said nothing changed for him, that he'd held the regular strap since stopping Kubrat Pulev in six rounds last December, and that his only goal is becoming a two-weight unified champion.

There's history with Usyk, of course. The Ukrainian beat Gassiev to become undisputed cruiserweight king back in 2018, and their careers diverged sharply from there — Usyk (25-0) built a legacy, while Gassiev battled injuries and promoter headaches. He holds no grudge, framing the rough years as the thing that made him stronger. His pitch now is simple: he believes he can knock anyone out at heavyweight, whether it's Kabayel, Itauma, or whoever else steps up.