MOSCOW (AP) — Murat Gassiev marked the first defense of his WBA world heavyweight title by stopping Peter Kadiru in the sixth round Saturday.

Kadiru’s corner threw in the towel after a sustained attack by the champion, who took his career record to 34-2.

Gassiev was originally meant to face Tony Yoka for the WBA’s secondary heavyweight crown but got an upgrade to the full title, and a new opponent, after unified champion Oleksandr Usyk vacated his belts last month.

Yoka pulled out with a back injury and Kadiru (23-2), a German with a record of fighting largely unheralded opponents, was made a surprise replacement challenger at short notice.

Gassiev has followed Usyk in holding titles at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.

Usyk beat Gassiev in 2018 to take the two belts he held at the time and unify the cruiserweight division, before moving up to heavyweight a year later.

Nicknamed “Iron,” Gassiev’s career at heavyweight suffered a setback in 2023 with a loss to Otto Wallin, before he knocked out repeat title contender Kubrat Pulev in Dubai last year to win the WBA’s “regular” title.

At the age of 32, Russian fighter Gassiev could be a presence in the division for years to come.

Kadiru was a surprise opponent, arguably best known for winning a Youth Olympics gold medal as a 17-year-old amateur in 2014. Of his 24 professional fights before Saturday, most were against obscure opponents and all but three were in Germany.

The one previous loss on his record was a knockout in less than a minute against the similarly unheralded Marcos Antonio Aumada in 2022.

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