Brandon Moore Had Gassiev Contract
WBA Heavyweight Title Question Deepens
A heavyweight ranked by two major sanctioning bodies was given a contract to fight Murat Gassiev for the WBA world title and was preparing to travel for Russian visas before unranked Peter Kadiru was announced as the replacement opponent.
World Boxing News has learned that American heavyweight Brandon Moore was in line to face Gassiev at VTB Arena in Moscow on July 11 following Tony Yoka’s withdrawal with a back injury.
Moore, ranked number fifteen by both the WBO and IBF, had been given a contract for the fight, but his team was then left waiting for a call that never came.
Steve Tannenbaum exclusively told WBN that Moore’s advisor, Raul Alvarez, kept him updated throughout the situation.
“Heavyweight Brandon Moore from the States, ranked 15th in the world by both the WBO and IBF, was given a contract to fight Gassiev,” Tannenbaum told WBN.
“Moore’s advisor, Raul Alvarez, informed me he was waiting for the call this past weekend as he and his team of five out of Florida were expecting to fly to New York on Monday to obtain visas from the Russian Consulate and fly to Moscow for Saturday’s bout.
Tannenbaum made clear he is not involved with Moore but received the information directly from Alvarez.
“Raul Alvarez is a close friend of mine and a boxing colleague of mine who has collaborated with me on several fighters, but I am not in any way involved with Brandon Moore,” he said.
Kadiru was ultimately handed the opportunity to challenge Gassiev for the full WBA heavyweight championship.
Tannenbaum believes the German heavyweight’s location may have helped organizers make the late switch with only days remaining before the fight.
“I presume they chose Kadiru as he was already in Europe and there would be less red tape involved with the fight only a week away,” Tannenbaum added.
“Bad break for Moore and you can’t count on anything in this business even when they dangle a contract in front of you.”
Joe Joyce was initially discussed as a possible opponent despite sitting outside the WBA top fifteen and entering the event on the back of consecutive defeats.
Joyce was rightly bypassed, but Kadiru, who is also outside the WBA’s published top fifteen, was then announced as Gassiev’s challenger.
Moore is 19-1 with ten knockouts and has won three consecutive fights since suffering his only professional defeat against Richard Torrez Jr. in May 2024.
Kadiru is in strong form himself and has won nine consecutive bouts since his only defeat.
WBN previously questioned why the full WBA heavyweight championship needed to be attached to a short-notice replacement fight involving an unranked challenger.
As Tannenbaum said, even a contract dangling in front of a fighter is no guarantee in boxing.
For Brandon Moore, the switch appears to have cost him a shot at the heavyweight championship of the world.
Phil Jay is the Editor-in-Chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a veteran boxing reporter with 15+ years of experience. He has interviewed world champions, broken international exclusives, and reported ringside since 2010. Read full bio.
Source: www.worldboxingnews.net
