Peter Kadiru has been drafted in to face Murat Gassiev for the WBA heavyweight title after Tony Yoka withdrew from the July 11 fight through injury.
Gassiev (33-2, 26 KOs) had been preparing to defend his belt against 2016 Olympic champion Yoka at VTB Arena in Moscow before the Frenchman suffered a back injury. IBA organizers then moved quickly to find a replacement and keep the main event alive.
Joe Joyce was among the names considered, with the British heavyweight already scheduled to fight Artem Suslenkov on the undercard. Instead, Kadiru has now been brought in on less than a week’s notice.
Kadiru (23-1, 13 KOs) has rebuilt well since his shock 56-second knockout loss to Marcos Antonio Aumada in 2022. The 29-year-old is now on a nine-fight winning streak and last fought on May 15, when he outpointed Senad Gashi over 10 rounds in Mannheim.
That victory has now led to the biggest opportunity of his career. Gassiev, a former cruiserweight world champion, was elevated from WBA Regular champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated his heavyweight titles.
Gassiev won the secondary belt by stopping Kubrat Pulev in the sixth round in Dubai last December. He was set to make his first defense against Yoka, but Kadiru will now travel to Moscow despite not currently being ranked inside the top 15 by any of the four major sanctioning bodies.
