Trainer Christian Morales threw in the towel in the sixth round; the one-sided fight was over, and the Hamburg native’s faint hope for the title was dashed.
Peter Kadiru stood helplessly in his corner, exposed to yet another barrage of punches, when his coach did the only right thing: Christian Morales threw in the towel, and the one-sided fight was over. Completely unexpectedly, Hamburg-based professional boxer Kadiru had been given his shot at the world title on Monday—but the heavyweight stood no chance against defending champion Murat Gassijew.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough today,” Kadiru wrote on Instagram: “I’m not going to make excuses. My opponent was simply better today and deserved the victory. I respect that.”
The one-sided bout for the WBA belt in Moscow was over after just six rounds. Kadiru, who had stepped into the ring with virtually no preparation, suffered his second loss in his 25th professional fight. And yet he looked ahead, because this isn’t the end of the road for the 29-year-old. He vowed to “learn from this loss, keep working hard, and come back.”
For German boxing, the chance to have a second reigning heavyweight champion had emerged almost out of nowhere. Most recently, Agit Kabayel had been declared the WBC champion after Alexander Usyk relinquished his belts. And the Ukrainian had also paved the way for Kadiru’s sudden opportunity: Usyk had also relinquished the WBA belt, and Gassiev rose to become the new titleholder. The Russian was actually supposed to face Frenchman Tony Yoka on Saturday, but Yoka had to pull out due to injury. So Kadiru stepped in.
“The fight came together very, very suddenly. We didn’t have any real preparation,” Kadiru said beforehand. Nevertheless, it was his “moment”—but for Kadiru, the fight seemed to become a test of endurance very early on.
The southpaw was quickly pushed into the ropes by Gassiev and appeared inactive. The Russian frequently targeted the body, which sapped Kadiru of further strength; he clearly lost the first three rounds.
In rounds four, five, and six, Kadiru tried to be more active and take more risks—but in doing so, he left himself even more open to attack and was once again cornered. Kadiru took some heavy blows and began to waver; trainer Morales stopped the fight one minute into the sixth round to protect his fighter.
