Agit Kabayel confronted by KO artist heavyweight who demands title shot: “Don’t be afraid”

Oscar Pick

Agit Kabayel confronted by KO artist heavyweight who demands title shot: “Don’t be afraid”
Image credit: Getty

Newly-crowned WBC world champion Agit Kabayel has been called out by an unbeaten heavyweight who suspects he is being avoided.

The 33-year-old was elevated from ‘interim’ to full WBC champion in June, immediately after Oleksandr Usyk decided to vacate his three heavyweight titles.

Prior to that, Kabayel had claimed his interim belt with a sixth-round stoppage of Zhilei Zhang in February 2024, before scoring a third-round finish over Damian Knyba the following January.

With previous stoppages against Frank Sanchez and Arslanbek Makhmudov, too, the Kurdish-German has established himself as a ferocious body puncher and one of the division’s top-level operators.

Since being upgraded to world champion, though, there has been no word of a date, location or opponent for Kabayel’s next outing.

The opportunity for a major title shot is therefore being pursued by Nelson Hysa, who scored a second-round knockout over Thomas Narmo on the undercard of Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic last Saturday.

Immediately after improving his record to 25-0 (23 KOs), the 41-year-old confronted Kabayel at ringside and demanded a WBC title shot, with Queensberry Promotions sharing their altercation on social media.

“Are you afraid of me? Why you don’t fight me? I come to fight you in your house, in Germany. Wherever you want, okay? Don’t be afraid. I will knock you out. Fight with me – don’t run away.”

While Hysa had been mooted as an opponent for Tyson Fury, he was ultimately replaced by the 46-year-old Mariusz Wach, who suffered a seventh-round stoppage defeat to ‘The Gypsy King’ in July.

Now, though, Hysa could soon find himself colliding with Kabayel, who is also unbeaten and would be made a sizable favourite against the Albanian.

More stories