Heavyweights Kem Ljungquist (18-0) from Denmark and US-based Armenian Murat Gassiev (30-2) will meet October 19 in Vienna in Austria in a non-title fight scheduled for 10 rounds.
It’s an important fight for both men but perhaps especially for the former IBF cruiser king Gassiev, who lost to Otto Wallin last time out and that was more than a year ago. He has since reportedly been side-lined with a shoulder injury.
As a cruiserweight, he was outstanding, losing only to Oleksandr Usyk. As a heavyweight he's 4-1 but it's been a long time between fights and he was partly outboxed against Wallin who, like Ljungquist, is a southpaw.
Ljungquist got past Greek/Swede Marios Kollias and Tanzanian/Swede Awadh Tamim earlier this year but this is by far his biggest fight. He turned pro with Sauerland Event but is now his own man and runs Rng*Sde Promotions.
Gassiev vs Lungquist headlines an IBA Champions Night with more fights to be announced.