Oleksandr Usyk recently announced that he is planning to have three more fights before retirement. When naming his ideal opponents, he left WBC interim champion and mandatory challenger, Agit Kabayel, off the list.
Kabayel put his name amongst the top men in the heavyweight division with wins over Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez – both previously undefeated – before stopping feared Zhilei Zhang to win the interim belt. The WBC has ordered Usyk to face him after a controversial voluntary defence against former kickboxing champion, Rico Verhoeven.
Despite telling the Inside the Ring panel that his preferred opponents are Verhoeven, the winner of Fabio Wardley vs Daniel Dubois and a trilogy with Tyson Fury, when asked about Kabayel, Usyk seemed to take the fight on board, showing signs that he has not completely ruled it out.
“Listen, I think about your questions with my team. Maybe it’s real. We’ll see.”
Regardless of this caveat, Kabayel has responded to the three-man list, which made headlines, to say that he would never say Usyk is ‘scared,’ but now finds it hard to believe that he is not being avoided.
The 33-year-old brutal body puncher, widely considered the most deserving of a shot at the heavyweight world title, added a new dimension to his reputation earlier this year when he commanded a great audience at the Rudolf Weber-Arena, Oberhausen, to stop Damian Knyba. If he was previously considered too high of a risk with not enough reward, his new proven drawing power may level that out.
With a true homecoming fight for Usyk still off the table due to the ongoing war with Russia, a trip to Germany may be a smart alternative – since the conflict, there are up to 1.3 million Ukrainians living there.
