Oleksandr Usyk wins unanimous decision Murat Gassiev

Oleksandr Usyk wins the unanimous decision of Murat Gassiev on Saturday night, 21 July 2018 at the Olimpiyskiy, Moscow, Russia. Usyk unified the cruiserweight division and won the World Boxing Super Series.

Usyk, (15-0, 11 KOs) continued the winning streak and got the nod of all three judges. The scorecards read 120-108, 119-109, 119-109 for the unanimous decision win.

From the start, Usyk displayed superior movement and generalship inside the ring. He was moving around and sticking with his jab in a southpaw stance. The Ukrainian fought tall with his jab and kept the taller Gassiev at bay. Usyk kept the fight from outside while moving to his right. The first half of the fight went to Usyk on my scorecard.

Gassiev, (26-1, 19 KOs) tried to fight from inside but was unsuccessful. He was greeted with jabs and combinations from Usyk as he tried to come in. Gassiev stepped up the offense in the seventh round. He landed combinations to the body. Usyk felt the punches but complained to the referee that those were low blows. The referee signaled to continue the fight as Usyk complained. Gassiev continued to press forward landing lead rights to the head. It was a good round for Gassiev.

In round 8, Gassiev continued to press on, moving forward but not throwing jabs. On the other hand, Usyk moved around using his jab as a yardstick to keep his distance from Gassiev. The Big Bear, California resident followed Usyk instead of cutting the ring off. He was caught often too squared at Usyk's line of fire.

In the last four rounds, Usyk continued to look like a masterful matador trying to tame a raging bull with his surgical fists. Usyk showed superior boxing skills and putting on a masterful performance. He used footwork, jab, and effective combination punching to overwhelm Gassiev.

Gassiev fired several haymakers that if it could find its target can turn the fight to his favor. But those haymakers landed in the air. The two boxers hug each other and showed sportsmanship after the final bell.

With the win, Usyk remained undefeated with the cruiserweight world title listed on his resume. Usyk ranked number 1, while Gassiev ranked number 2 in the cruiserweight division of Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB), hence Usyk is the new TBRB's world champion in the cruiserweight division.