Boxing
Murat Gassiev to defend world heavyweight title against Olympian Tony Yoka
Bivol vs. Eifert on DAZN subscription - Saturday
WBA 'regular' heavyweight champion Murat Gassiev (33-2, 26 KOs) is set to make the first defence of his title against France's Tony Yoka (15-3, 12 KOs) on July 11.
The fight will take place at the VTB Arena in Moscow, and will be promoted by IBA Pro.
Gassiev won the WBA's secondary title in December when he beat the veteran Kubrat Pulev with a sixth-round knockout in Dubai.
Usyk vs. Rico: Fight Night Raw
Go behind the scenes of an incredible night in Egypt
After enjoying a reign as a unified cruiserweight champion between 2016 and 2018, Gassiev made his heavyweight debut in 2019.
Yoka is a seasoned campaigner at heavyweight in both the amateur and professional ranks. He won gold at the 2016 Olympic Games before turning professional in 2017 with a second-round knockout against Travis Clark.
Analysis: Yoka finally gets big fight after frustrating year
Matt Astbury
DAZN News Sports Writer
It has been a frustrating year so far for Tony Yoka.
First, his homecoming in Paris against Lawrence Okolie in April was cancelled after the latter failed a PED test.
Then there was a planned 'tick over' fight on the Dave Allen-Filip Hrgovic undercard. That fell through after an opponent could not be found, and it looked like Yoka would be left in heavyweight purgatory while the division moved on.
However, the phrase 'Third time's a charm' can be successfully applied here with Yoka staying patient whilst finally securing his first fight of the year, and it's one which carries a world title belt, albeit a secondary version.
If Yoka beats Gassiev on July 11, he will be second to only Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the WBA's full title, and will be in line to challenge the Ukrainian when the mandatory is called by the sanctioning body.
Watch Fury vs. Hall exclusively on DAZN
'The Beauty' Tommy Fury fights the 'The Beast' Eddie Hall on a great Misfit's fight night on Saturday, June 13, exclusively live on DAZN. Buy as a one-off PPV or included, along with Zayas vs. Ennis (June 27), Joshua vs. Prenga (July 25) and Canelo vs. M'billi (Sept 12) PPVs, with a DAZN Ultimate Tier subscription.
