Agit Kabayel Next Fight: Usyk’s worst nightmare? Kabayel comes home

Agit Kabayel is the shadow that stalks boxing’s best heavyweights. The WBC interim champion is one of the first in line to the throne, currently held by undisputed kingpin Oleksandr Usyk.

Upset master Kabayel returns to the ring next year, with a date and venue for his reemergence confirmed. The Leverkusen man will also have a new promoter in tow for his next outing. Read on for everything you need to know about Agit Kabayel’s next fight.

Kabayel is a puzzle that nobody can seem to solve. The 33-year-old has peaked late, after breaking through in the last two years. Now Kabayel has gone from the division’s untested quiet man to everybody’s problem.

That transition began two Christmases ago, when Kabayel was expected to get stuffed like a holiday turkey in Riyadh. Russian knockout monster Arslanbek Makhmudov was the opponent, rocking a fearsome 18-0 record with 17 stoppages. Kabayel was 23-0 with 15 wins inside the distance and was viewed as purely European level. He was best known in the UK for winning a controversial majority decision over Derek Chisora in an EBU title defence.

But on fight night, Kabayel shocked the world. The underdog blitzed Makhmudov in four rounds, proving once and for all that viciously-applied ring IQ trumps raw savagery. ‘The Lion’ had clubbed a path to the cusp of greatness. But Kabayel used his brain as well as his brawn to close the road.

Boxing history is littered with fighters who pulled one huge result out of the bag. Rahman, Ruiz Jr, Randy Turpin and that is just the R’s. But the decidedly non-R Kabayel was thought to have merely orchestrated a one-off shock. Which explains his further matchmaking.

Latest Boxing Odds

Frank Sanchez was up next, the unbeaten Cuban who had been circling world title shots for a year or two at this point. Sanchez had cut a path through industry veterans like Christian Hammer and Nagy Aguilera before scoring wins over high-ranked Efe Ajagba and Junior Fa. 

‘The Cuban Flash’ looked like he belonged in the pan as Kabayel got to work. Nothing Kabayel does is surprising, but like Arjen Robben cutting inside for a decade, his style is very difficult to stop. Kabayel walked Sanchez down and jabbed his way in. From there he chose from a utility belt of weapons. A vicious looping right. A slab of body punishment. Ambidextrous uppercuts. A guard-stretching straight right. Kabayel never strays outside the boxing textbook. But his opponents type it out while he writes his blood-flecked brilliance in cursive.

Zhilei Zhang was supposed to stop all that. How does one plan for 6’6 of Henan Province’s finest beef? A southpaw nightmare in double-XL, ‘Big Bang’ has taken the souls of Joe Joyce and Deontay Wilder and to this day has not given them back.

Fancy that, Agit? As usual, the German workhorse answered “Ja, lasst uns kämpfen”. Zhang had just butchered ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder in five rounds. The Chinese giant only lasted one round longer when his own reckoning came. Behold a pale horse and his name that sat on him was Kabayel.

Zhang gave Kabayel more to consider than any of his previous foes, barring perhaps dearest ‘Del Boy’ once upon a time. ‘Big Bang’ lived up to his name in the fifth round, dropping Kabayel heavily (is anything Zhang does not performed heavily?) with a short left hook from hell. Goodbye, underdog.

On the sixth day, God made man in his image and let him have dominion over the creatures of the Earth. In the sixth round, Kabayel made the heavyweight division in his own image and took dominion over Zhang by force. A body assault, one so savagely-applied that I might have broken a couple of my ribs just watching it, was the emphatic full stop.

Kabayel starts a new chapter on January 10 in Oberhausen. It is not just a homecoming for the 33-year-old, who was born just an hour away in Leverkusen. Though that is a consideration and a selling point, with the press release emphasising the country’s boxing notables like Henry Maske, Axel Schulz and Sven Ottke. But the headline news is the fact Kabayel has signed with Queensberry.

The Frank Warren-fronted promotional company touts themselves as “the home of the heavyweights” and a cursory glance at their roster makes it hard to argue. Even if you put more stock in Tyson Fury’s retirement than you should, Warren’s stable boasts Joseph Parker, Fabio Wardley, Daniel Dubois, Moses Itauma, Filip Hrgovic, Zhang and Chisora among others. Former champions, top-ranked challengers, future superstars. It is an intoxicating mix.

Kabayel joins that group and gets a banner date in his home region to announce his arrival. An opponent has not yet been scheduled and this article will be updated to reflect the announcement of one when it comes. But Agit is right in the mix for a potential title shot this year.

Usyk is the undisputed champion but the way boxing is structured makes it hard to maintain all four titles. Kabayel is the WBC interim champion while Parker holds the WBO version and Wardley carries the WBA iteration. Dubois is expected to fight Sanchez to crown an IBF mandatory. Even a talent as supernatural as Usyk cannot fight four challengers at once.

This means something has to give. Any of the interim champions listed could see their belts upgraded if Usyk is forced to vacate. But you feel each of these men, Kabayel included, would favour a chance to beat The Man. Usyk is the lineal and true heavyweight champion, no matter where the sanctioning bodies redistribute their titles. If Kabayel wins in Oberhausen on January 10, he might just find himself at the front of the queue.

You can find all our latest boxing betting tips and analysis at our Betfred Insights Boxing page and our latest boxing odds here.