On Saturday night in Newark, New Jersey - the final quarter-final bout of the World Boxing Super Series was held, with the IBF cruiserweight champion - 24-year-old Murat Gassiev (25-0, 18 KOs) of Russia - knocked out 36-year-old Krzysztof Wlodarczyk of Poland in the third round with a huge combination to the body and head.
The victory send Gassiev to the quarter-finals of the tournament, against WBA champion Younier Dorticos (22-0, 21 KOs).
According to the world light heavyweight champion of the World Boxing Association, Dmitry Bivol, the semi-final between Gassiev and Dorticos promises to be a very spectacular fight.
Bivol, who defends his world title next month in Monaco against Trent Broadhurst, was very impressed by the performances of both boxers in the WBSS tournament.
"I watched, with pleasure, the fight between Murat Gassiev and Krzysztof Wlodarczyk. A beautiful combination, a beautiful victory. The plan of Wlodarczyk was, in my opinion, to take the first few rounds to allow Murat to throw his punches, block them, move and then gradually come into the fight - but the effective combination [from Gassiev] caught him off-guard and destroyed all of those plans. The blow was accurate and perfect. I think Russian fans were satisfied with the performance of Murat Gassiev. He showed excellent boxing skills," Bivol said.
"The more interesting fight will be the semi-final between Gassiev and Dorticos. The Cuban boxer differs in terms of style from the Wlodarczyk. He is very mobile, non-standard in his boxing, hard to land punches on.
"Both fighters like to be aggressive in their fights, they invest heavily on their punches and they are accustomed to winning by knockout - so a spectacle is almost a lock for that fight. I am very glad that Russia will be represented in the Super Series semi-final. We are anticipating the fight and we are rooting for one of our own."