By Yuri Tarantin

IBF cruiserweight world champion Murat Gassiev (24-0, 17 KOs), 23-years-old, is coming into 2017 as one of the news rising stars of the sport.

Two weeks ago in Russia, Gassiev dropped and won a twelve round unanimous decision over his countryman Denis Lebedev to capture the IBF title. The Abel Sanchez trained fighter is looking for some very big options in the new year.

Gassiev's next fight will take place in the United States against an opponent to be determined. He's heading to America next month to begin training with Sanchez at The Summit in Big Bear, California.

Gassiev says the fight against Lebedev, who is trained by Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, was far from easy and he wasn't sure which way the decision was going to swing at the end of the twelve rounds.

"I wasn't aware [that I had won] until the end. The work was carried out very seriously. My trainer studied Denis and prepared me for him. Much of what we have prepared, I was able to show it in the ring. This of course I am happy about. We understand that he would move and work with counter-punches, and that was confirmed in the fight," Gassiev said.

"Not all of the work was implemented and we couldn't do it. Lebedev is a very strong and tough fighter, he was focused in the contest and I had to adjust some things. But in general, I was calm and knew that I needed to do. In the first round I was acting cautiously, but then I began to feel more relaxed and was fighting more actively. Immediately after the twelfth round I was told in the corner that I won, so I was calm and waited for my hand to get raised."

Now Gassiev wants to face the other champions like WBC champ Tony Bellew, WBO champion Oleskandr Usyk and Lebedev, who still holds the WBA world title.

"I would like to unify the belts in my division, so that's my goal - to fight the other champions. Will it really happen - only time will tell. My team shares my desire, so I hope that we will succeed in doing that," Gassiev said.

Yuri Tarantin covers boxing for Allboxing.ru