Despite having his next two fights booked, Tyson Fury has been given the green light to fight for the WBC heavyweight world title by the recently upgraded champion.
Fury held the WBC belt between February 2022 and January 2024, making three successful defences before losing it to Oleksandr Usyk in their undisputed contest. Usyk carried the title until last month, when he vacated it along with his WBA and IBF straps.
WBC Interim champion Agit Kabayel was promptly upgraded to full champion, and talk has now turned to his first defence. Fury recently floated the idea of the match-up, pointing out his number one ranking with the sanctioning body.
Though Germany’s Kabayel had previously talked down the idea of fighting Fury, given their friendship outside of the ropes, he has now told the Ring Magazine that it is just ‘sport’ and would welcome the challenge.
“I respect him a lot, but Tyson called me out. When you have an interest in the fight, it’s sport, competition. I have no personality problem with the guy. When he has interest in the fight with me, why not? I respect him. He’s my big brother. When he says, ‘Agit, I want the belt,’ I say, ‘no problem brother, come on, we’ll make the fight.'”
Kabayel will look to make the first defence of his belt later this year, hopefully in Germany, where he has proven he can draw an impressive crowd.
As for Fury, he has just this week announced a ‘warm-up’ fight against Polish veteran Mariusz Wach, with a view to moving ahead with a pre-signed Anthony Joshua bout in November. Should the ‘AJ’ deal fall through, Kabayel may be a viable option.
