UNBEATEN heavyweight Agit Kabayel believes he may return to the ring in the autumn and is eager to test himself against one of the division’s household names.
The 32-year-old German has been one of the star performers at heavyweight since he began to box in Saudi Arabia on Riyadh Season shows. Stopping the imposing 6ft 5½ ins Arslanbek Makhmudov in December 2023 by fourth round TKO was considered an upset win at the time. Five months later Kabayel ended the unbeaten record of Frank Sanchez with a display of body work and combination punching which wore the Cuban down ending in a seventh round knockout victory.
Last month Kabayel, 26-0 (18 KOs), scored his biggest win against powerful southpaw Zhilei Zhang. Despite being dropped in the fifth Kabayel weathered the storm and landed a crippling body shot to put the 6ft 6ins Chinese heavyweight down one round later to pick up his second consecutive knockout win.
The triumph over Zhang earned Kabayel the WBC’s Interim belt taking him another step closer to fighting for a full version of a world title.
Speaking on his own YouTube channel Kabayel doesn’t expect to land a shot against the Ukrainian, who has been in talks for a rematch against Daniel Dubois, next. The former undisputed champion has also been ordered by the WBO to face mandatory challenger Jospeh Parker.
In the meantime, however, Kabayel would like to face a well known name in the division.
“Does it make sense for us to fight Joshua? Yes, for me it will definitely be fun to box against ‘AJ’. I can also measure myself from a sporting perspective. Whether I’m in good shape against AJ, whether I get along well with AJ.
“If we just say we want to fight [for] the world championship, only this fight against AJ would make sense. Wilder will be thrown in again, I think. Wilder would only make sense in terms of his name and standing.”
Joshua will fight again according to promoter Eddie Hearn despite suffering another career setback in September. The former unified champion was outgunned by IBF title holder Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium but Joshua still harbours hope of fighting Tyson Fury despite ‘The Gypsy King’ announcing his retirement in January.
Wilder’s future is uncertain, however. The former WBC heavyweight king has lost in back-to-back fights to Joseph Parker and Zhilei Zhang, respectively. Following his performances it was clear that ‘The Bronze Bomber’ was no longer the force he once was and it remains to be seen whether or not he will fight again.
