Who won Gassiev vs Balogun?

Murat Gassiev beat Mike Balogun by knockout in the 2nd round on Friday 3rd March 2023 at Karen Demirchyan Sports Complex in Yerevan.

The fight was scheduled to take place over 10 rounds in the Heavyweight division, which meant there was no weight limit.

Gassiev vs Balogun stats

Murat Gassiev stepped into the ring with a record of 29 wins, 1 loss and 0 draws, 22 of those wins coming by the way of knock out.

Mike Balogun made his way to the ring with an unblemished record of 20 wins and 0 draws, with 16 of those by knock out.

The stats suggested Balogun had a slight advantage in power over Gassiev, with a 80% knock out percentage over Gassiev's 76%.

Murat Gassiev was the younger man by 9 years, at 29 years old.

Gassiev had a height advantage of 3 inches over Balogun.

Murat Gassiev fought out of the orthodox stance, while Mike Balogun was a southpaw.

Gassiev was the more experienced professional fighter, having had 10 more fights, and made his debut in 2011, 3 years and 1 month earlier than Balogun, whose first professional fight was in 2014. He had fought 87 more professional rounds, 140 to Balogun's 53.

Murat Gassiev went into the fight ranked number 13 by the IBF at heavyweight.

Gassiev vs Balogun form

Murat Gassiev had stopped 4 of his last 5 opponents.

In his last fight leading up to this contest, he had won against Carlouse Welch on 26th August 2022 by knockout in the 1st round at Belgrade, Serbia.

Previous to that, he had won against Michael Wallisch on 22nd July 2021 by technical knockout in the 4th round at Dynamo Volleyball Arena, Moscow, Russia.

Going into that contest, he had beat Nuri Seferi on 31st October 2020 by technical knockout in the 1st round at WOW Arena, Krasnaya Polyana.

Before that, he had been beaten by Oleksandr Usyk on 21st July 2018 by unanimous decision in their IBF World Cruiserweight, WBA Super World Cruiserweight, WBC World Cruiserweight and WBO World Cruiserweight championship fight at Olimpiyskiy, Moscow.

He had defeated Yuniel Dorticos on 3rd February 2018 by technical knockout in the 12th round in their IBF World Cruiserweight and WBA Super World Cruiserweight championship fight at Bolshoy Ice Dome, Adler.

Activity check

Gassiev's last 5 fights had come over a period of 5 years, 1 month and 28 days, meaning he had been fighting on average every 1 year and 11 days. In those fights, he fought a total of 30 rounds, meaning that they had lasted 6 rounds on average.

What time did Gassiev vs Balogun start?

The fighters were expected to ringwalk at around 7:00 PM UTC at Karen Demirchyan Sports Complex, Yerevan, Armenia, which was 2:00 PM EST or 11:00 AM PST on the West Coast of America, or 7:00 PM GMT in the UK.

What were the odds on Gassiev vs Balogun?

Murat Gassiev was a 1/16 (-1700) favourite going into the contest, while Mike Balogun made his way into the ring at 15/2 (+750) with oddsmakers.