By Miguel Rivera

Mexican coach Abel Sanchez has stated that under no circumstance will Russia's Murat Gassiev underestimate his upcoming opponent, Cuba's Yunier Dorticos.

Gassiev and Sanchez are currently holding camp in Big Bear, California. The fight is scheduled for February 3 in Sochi, Russia.

After almost seven weeks of work in the Californian mountains, Abel stressed that Gassiev (25-0, 18 KO's) looks increasingly solid, physically, and that will allow him to compete head on with another knockout artist like Dorticós (22-0, 21 KO's) in order to reach the finals of the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) in the cruiserweight division.

Murat is the current cruiserweight champion of the International Boxing Federation. The Russian puncher conquered Denis Lebedev by split decision to win the belt, and successfully defended it against Krzysztof Wlodarczyk by knockout in three rounds in his first bout in the WBSS.

"We have already trained for more than seven weeks, the fight is on February 3 in Sochi," Abel said to ESPN Deportes.

"I see Gassiev looking a lot better. When he first arrived to me, he was still in a child's body and now he looks physically mature, now he looks bigger and stronger, and besides that he technically knows what he has to do.

"Dorticos is a very tough opponent and this is how we're taking him, without underestimating him. The reality is that we are expecting a tough fight, the two boys are undefeated and carry dramatic knockouts, so let's see who can be the most aggressive and can put in the necessary punches to change the course of the fight."

According to the oddsmakers, Gassiev is the favorite favorite to win and unify the IBF belt that he holds with the World Boxing Association title that Dorticos has, who enters this fight with a victory over Dmitry Kudryashov in the quarterfinals of the WBSS. The contest will be held at the Bolshoy Ice Arena in Sochi.