Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel Predictions: It all finishes with a ‘Big Bang’

The vacant WBC interim championship will be on the line on Saturday, February 22 when Agit Kabayel meets Zhilei Zhang. This heavyweight tear-up takes place at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. The fight will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Box Office, DAZN PPV and TNT Sports Box Office.

Here are my Zhang vs Kabayel predictions ahead of this battle of the big men.

Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel Odds

Zhang is your underdog at 27/20 while Kabayel is breathing the rarefied air of the favourite, something he is not used to. The German is 4/6 to prevail. A draw is priced at 16/1. Zhang does have one of those on his record, against Jerry Forrest back in 2021.

Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel Fight Preview

Of all the heavyweights who have lit up these Riyadh Season cards, Kabayel has perhaps benefited most from the format. The Saudi shows are almost apolitical in a boxing sense, with a simple concept of the best fighting the best with a flagrant disregard for promotional affiliation.

This has seen Kabayel matched incredibly tough, in sink-or-swim scenarios. Then-unbeaten Arslanbek Makhmudov was meant to defeat him, but Kabayel took him out in four. Frank Sanchez came in at 24-0 and left a seventh-round knockout victim. If anybody has thrived in the modern boxing climate, it is Kabayel.

Zhang has both enjoyed and endured his own trips to Saudi. Filip Hrgovic controversially outpointed him in Jeddah. Joseph Parker did the same without the doubt, despite two trips to the canvas. But Saudi has also played host to Zhang’s greatest career triumph.

In his last bout, Zhang knocked former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder out in five rounds. This battle of two of this generation’s biggest punchers was expected to be settled in brutal fashion and Zhang obliged. Only Tyson Fury can claim to have dismantled Wilder so thoroughly. It is this victory that has propelled Zhang into another big Riyadh Season fight.

Outside of his Saudi commitments, Zhang also stopped Joe Joyce in two back-to-back fights. ‘Big Bang’ is one of the heavyweight division’s most potent X-factors. On Saturday, he just so happens to be fighting one of the others.

Kabayel could be in for a shock here. He has turned back every challenge offered, against boxers he was not supposed to defeat. Now, interestingly, he fights the biggest name of his career but is the betting favourite. It is an inversion of the norm for Kabayel. Suddenly, he is the man of whom great things are expected.

You wonder if Kabayel has grasped that. The German has been calling himself an underdog all week but he isn’t one. The 32-year-old has now reached a point where, even against a talent like Zhang, he is expected to prevail. That requires a mental reset that I am not sure Kabayel has undertaken.

Zhang is used to living life on both sides of the equation. Wilder and Joyce were expected to take his head off and he won. Parker was expected to suffer, but Zhang lost. The underdog side of the equation seems to be where the Chinese superstar thrives. ‘Big Bang’ will get that designation this weekend. Let’s see what he does with it.

Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel Full Card

Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol

Joseph Parker vs Martin Bakole

Shakur Stevenson vs Josh Padley

Carlos Adames vs Hamzah Sheeraz

Vergil Ortiz Jr vs Israil Madrimov

Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel

Joshua Buatsi vs Callum Smith

Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel Prediction

Zhang is not Makhmudov and he is not Sanchez. Kabayel did incredibly well against those men, but ‘Big Bang’ has more power and more top-rate experience than those two. I don’t think Kabayel can cope with that on the night.

I’m picking Zhang to get the knockout at 5/2. His show-closing power is evident and it has taken far bigger scalps than Kabayel. On Saturday night, the Chinese hero does it again.

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