Agit Kabayel is set to make the first defence of his WBC title in November, facing a fellow undefeated heavyweight in Germany.
The 33-year-old returned to his home country in January, defending his ‘interim’ title with a third-round stoppage of Damian Knyba, who now comes off a surprising points victory over Andy Ruiz Jr.
Prior to that, Kabayel had established himself as a top-level heavyweight with consecutive finishes over Arslanbek Makhmudov, Frank Sanchez and Zhilei Zhang, who all succumbed to his ferocious body shots.
The Kurdish-German was then upgraded to full world champion in June, with Oleksandr Usyk having vacated his three major belts following an 11th-round stoppage of Rico Verhoeven.
Since then, Kabayel has been linked with several potential opponents, including WBA champion Murat Gassiev, though it now appears that he could end up facing Nelson Hysa.
The unbeaten Albanian, who has 23 knockouts from his 25 victories, returned to action last month, stopping Thomas Narmo in two rounds while featuring on the undercard of Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic.
Hysa then confronted Kabayel at ringside and, according to Dan Rafael, it now seems that the pair could lock horns in November, as the veteran journalist named Germany as the destination for their Queensberry main event later this year.
From my current #boxing notebook. Sign up at address below! pic.twitter.com/9UMwVqwW9F
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) September 10, 2026
Kabayel did, of course, headline a Frank Warren show in January and, judging by the plentiful fans in attendance, he certainly appears to be a popular sporting figure in Deutschland.
Hysa, meanwhile, tends to bring an army of Albanians wherever he fights, whether it be in the UK or elsewhere in Europe.
