Feels wrong saying this as he isn't even a HW, but I suspect Opetaia may be Usyk's biggest threat. But it goes to show that Usyk has pretty much almost cleaned out the HW division. A big shame personally that Opetaia hasn't had the chance to fight for all the CW belts yet, as I'd love to see him in the HW picture. Guys like Itauma have proven nothing as of now.
Yes his high workrate and consistent body punching make him one of the biggest threats for Usyk for sure. Joshua and Fury went sparingly to the body but Kabayel has some of the most consistent body punching I've seen probably since Tyson. I know Zhang is getting on but Kabayel exceeded my expectations in that fight the way he was willing to walkthrough anything Zhang threw and his relentless body attack was impressive. Landing over 100 body punches in 6 rounds is relentless I know Usyk wouldn't be a stationary target for Kabayel to land that many body punches. But it would be interesting to see how Usyk would deal with the constant pressure and body attack. Usyk had some issues vs Chisora and Kabayel is a level above Chisora. Parker deserves the fight more but stylistically Kabayel is a more interesting fight IMO.
People with more knowledge than me, has there been a heavyweight boxer before who is finishing decent fighters with bodyshots like this? Its just so entertaining and a great style and addition to the division. I still think Parker has a better shot against Usyk, and should be first in line, but would love to see the Kabayel fight.
He might be. It's just hard to say because his resume is very thin... Beating Chisora and Zhang suggests he's contender level at least. But with Zhang being so inconsistent against contenders (broken record time: he's literally 3-3-1 against top-200 fighters) and Chisora being so long ago... Whether that makes him an okay contender or a legit enough to trouble a legit ATG is quite a wide spread of ability - and there's not enough evidence to be confident of it. It's easy to forget that it's really not that long ago that the idea of Joshua or Fury fighting him was considered a joke, taking an easy fight instead of a proper challenge, etc... It's sometimes hard to take the hype out of a judgement - especially when it's as full-bore as it is for Agit right now. Parker looks less spectacular, (but then less aggressive fighters usually do) but he's proven far more - odds are he's probably the biggest threat, and he's certainly the most deserving, but we wouldn't really know for certain unless both got a shot...
He has brutally broken down his last three opponents with body shots and honestly I can't recall anyone doing that or being that consistent with the body attack as Kabayel.
Well I think any retirement talk about Usyk is premature inasmuch as it sure looked like we saw peak HW Usyk a little over a week ago. I noted on another thread that, time and $$ permitting of course, I'd luv to see Usyk face off vs. Parker, Kabayel and Wardley (assuming, needless to say, they all held their prime positions in the meantime). If all three fights could be made to happen within the next two or so years -- and Usyk were to prevail in all -- his place among the all-time top-10 HWs would be secured .... IMHO.....
As great as Kabayel has looked my biggest concern for him is his lack defence. He is a vicious uppercut waiting to happen and will get punished against an opponent with the where-with-all to not strand and trade with him I think.