- 26-0, 18 KO's, 33 years old, knocked down twice (Smakici, Zhang) but stopped both the very next round - Upset Chisora in a big step up, outboxing him comfortably despite the MD, 8-4/9-3 (2017) - Seemingly ducked 10-0 Joyce for an EBU title defence (2019) - Lined up to fight Fury but it fell through due to Fury's contractual obligations for a Widler trilogy (2020) - Upset huge favourite 18-0 Makhmudov, 4th round bodyshot KO (2023) - Upset 24-0 Sanchez, 7th round bodyshot KO (2024) - Beat Zhang, 6th round bodyshot KO (2025) Regardless of his high risk, low reward status, it's strange that Kabayel did next to nothing for over 6 years in or around his prime, sporadically fighting journeymen after beating Chisora. Chisora, Sanchez and Zhang may have been top 10 heavyweights when Kabayel beat them. Common opponent theory suggests that he's better than Parker (significantly better win over Chisora first time, Zhang), especially as these are two of Parker's best three opponents beaten.
The reason he did nothing for those 6 years is 2 fold. A)Fury, Wilder and AJ had more inbred title reigns then the Hapsburgs. Almost no one new got title shots over years and years as these 3 wasted everyones time with their drama. B)Kabayel was a defending regional champion and was fighting within the structure of the EBU. Kabayel was defending against the sort of fighters who were willing to fight for the EBU belt before finally moving on in 2023 to fight for North American titles.
There is a lot of what if surrounding Kabayel, but fortunately he is far from done. Based on the eye test, and extrapolating from his step up fights vs Zhang, Sanchez and Makh, I genuinely believe he could be the second best HW operating today (behind Usyk obviously.) What cements it for me is the Zhang fight; Zhang is a murderous puncher, and it is one thing to outbox him, but to go in front foot forward and brutalise Zhang until he quits demonstrates Kabayel's tenacity, chin, power and skill. I just hope Agit gets some career defining fights before Father time takes its toll.
I am in the paradoxical position or really liking the guy for a long time and thinking he is a bit overrated. He definitely deserves a shot but at the end of the day, Chisora, Mahkmudov, Sanchez and Zhang ain't murderer's row. Good guy, and I hope he finds his way to a title, but its not going to be against Usyk.
Its not kabayels fault , he would fight usyk immediately and i would not laugh if he would punch usyk the ukrainian colours into his ribs , liver and belly .
The reason he did nothing is that he became a protected prospect and was happy with that. People make excuses for these fighters all the time. They need to look at Charr, who used to call out opponents to make fights, show up at pressers etc. As a result, he fought Vitali, got a verbal agreement with Haye, fought Povetkin, Breidis. Kebabyal took the easy road. There were plenty of fights for him over the years. Nobody was scared of him. Can't way until he gets destroyed by someone and then is too old to do the come back road, just like joyce.
I think that resumé is one of the best of any active HWs, probably 5th behind AJ, Dubois, Ustka, and Parker.
But he gave up the EBU belt two fights after beating Chisora. He then spent the next 3 years fighting 3 complete bums, which killed his ranking with all of the sanctioning bodies. After this he got his EBU title back and got the Makhmudov fight. My point being that the EBU title was not to blame here, as it gave him a high ranking, and kept him somewhat active. And I think his 3 year period without the EBU belt was when some big fights fell through for him, like the Fury one, and of course Covid happened.
Some time after the Chisora win, Kabayel suffered a heavy period of depression. I think that's why he was so inactive before.
Watching some of his interviews, albeit with auto translations, he seems to feel a bit hard done by, like he thinks he deserves big fights. I'm not sure that's the case until recently, fighting a taxi driver once a year in Germany doesn't get his name out there or build his profile. Sure being a German based fighter isn't as lucrative as being British, or American, but its a lot of a better position to be in than being from New Zealand if we use Parker as an example.
After his impressive recent form, I was really hoping it would springboard Kabayel to fighting better opposition on a consistent basis. But, no. He takes a year out of boxing and decides to fight an unproven ancient prospect in Hysa.
Interesting thought . Does kabayel search for bum,s as opponents or is nobody more proven available at short notice ?
I think some of this falls on the Saudi´s two. They were on a roll for a moment, but suddenly all of the heavyweights they featured became rather inactive. They have a scheduling problem because they are no longer exclusively featuring heavyweights. I think its just a stay busy fight, so they went with a cheap and safe fight, but one they can market in some capacity.
Invoking the Hapsburgs in a boxing forum. Well done, sir. Next you will be comparing James Toney's interviews with Marcus Aurelius' Meditations.