Rico Verhoeven vs Agit Kabayel for the WBC Heavyweight Championship

Something something broken clock

 

Makes no sense to say it only mattered then when Zhang was the betting favorite against Kabayel and his best win, the rest of your post is a non sequitur

 

Well since the fury repeat and then dubois who already lost against usyk only the kickboxer got the chance.

And we don't know how much age played a role there. I certainly didn't see usyk using his feet like normal. I mean at times he was being maneuvered into rico's right by textbook footwork. I've never dreamed of seeing that happen this way to usyk, he used to be quicker on his feet.

And since that is the case, who knows how kabayel would have done against him. He and all others didn't get the chance, and btw it's crazy to see so many people putting that on kabayel. I think it is a sign of people being so high on usyk's career that they do anything to dissolve the cognitive dissonance that this last chapter of usyk's career - which is in stark contrast to what came before - left behind.


Edit: i see the comment you replied to got deleted because I was 'bypassing the word filters'. Wasn't actually meant like that, it was more like a self censoring.

I think it was something like 'verhoeven should actually first win a fight at heavyweight before getting his second shot at the titles. Let's see him beat vianello or bakole. But he wouldn't. That's why it will not be tried."

 

I think Kabayel tends to get a bit too much of a pass for his activity, which is lacking to say the very least. His resume is also not particularly noteworthy. This is primarily why it erks me that people view Kabayel as having "earned his shot" when he's been relatively stagnant most of his career.

While I agree that he can cause stylistic issues with a lot of heavyweights due to body work etc, he also hasn't really been put to the test by an elite operator under the age of 40. Usyk, in my view, comfortably beats him even now.

The WBC gave Rico a high ranking, and rightfully so given that he largely managed to outbox arguably the best heavyweight of this century (stoppage in the 11th aside). To me it makes sense that he fights someone in the top ten. Kabayel is as good as any to test his skills against.

 

As I say, I agree with the sentiment, but the onus and the pressure should always be on the champion. As heavyweight champion, the goal should be to defend your title against everyone and anyone who tries bashing down the door to rip the title off you, Ali defended against 3 mandatory challengers in a 7 month period. Once this precedent is set, then the idea that challengers should keep busy isn't even a suggestion, because the champion is fulfilling their proper duty.

If boxing does get to that point where people fight once every 2 years, then the issue is with the champion, not the challenger. The governing bodies need to be more proactive at stripping champions who choose to continually defend their belts against fighters who aren't their mandatory. In Usyk's last WBC defense, he defended it against Rico instead of Kabayel. He should've been stripped there and then, but the WBC are hardly bastions of legitimacy either. I don't think Agit should be criticized anywhere near as much as Usyk for how all this has panned out.

 

I agree, Usyk should have been stripped the moment he did not fight his mandatories.

In saying that however, there are 4 major belts and it's unrealistic to expect the rest of the division to grind to a halt while interm champions wait for their turn for the top dog. They too are champions, even if on paper only, and should be keeping busy to prove their worth.

 

situational irony
AMERICAN
[sich-oo-ey-shuh-nl ahy-ruh-nee, ahyer-]/ ˈsɪtʃ uˌeɪ ʃə nl ˈaɪ rə ni, ˈaɪər- /
NOUN

1. irony involving a situation in which actions have an effect that is opposite from what was intended, so that the outcome is contrary to what was expected.
   

 

Absolutely - and this is putting it mildly...

He has the potential to cause stylistic issues and he's durable - but he's on the slow side and his best win is an ancient fringe contender who's literally 50/50 at best against anyone good (and who lost to a gatekeeper and drew with a domestic level journeyman - in both cases because he's so bad on cards he can only win by KO).

He looks decent, but the actual evidence is very thin... And these narratives can fall apart very quickly.

 

Kabayel this Kabayel that,Kabayel did not create this situation,it was not Kabayel who dumped the belt to get out of the Usyk fight . This is the annoying part with Usyk vacating the belt and not fighting his WBC mandatory,a fight by the way he had already agreed with the WBC to fight next ! We got robbed of the fight with the current best Heavyweight on the planet against the best Heavyweight of the chasing pack,then we would have seen exactly what Kabayel is all about !

 

Thing is, Kabayel has very little value to Usyk as it stands - the moment he loses, his reputation will sink like a lead balloon and he lacks the resume to even have appeared worthwhile at that point.

Sure, it'd have been better if Usyk fought Kabayel than Rico - even if it's entirely possible that it would've been less competitive... But from Usyks position, I can see why his team would've considered other options - his legacy is already cemented, Kabayel wouldn't have added much and more money was available elsewhere.

Kabayel's had loads of time to make himself impossible to ignore - make himself a bigger draw and a worthwhile legacy fight... And he hasn't.
After Chisora he could've fought more gatekeepers or even international journeymen - instead he fought poor domestic opponents and not even in quick succession.
After Zhang, he had ranking - plenty of good options would've been available and interested in fighting him... He chased domestic level Hysa and then fought domestic level Knyba.

You cannot, reasonably, structure a career that badly (and on purpose) and then complain that an opportunity you actually wanted hasn't come off.

 

Kabayels career is a mute point,spin it how you want,try to justify it how you want at the end of the day Kabayel got himself into the WBC mandatory position,Usyk told the WBC he would fight Kabayel next so the WBC sanctioned the Rico fight off that agreement with Usyk,Usyk then went back on his word and vacated the belt ! How can you say that Kabayel v Usyk possibly would have been a less competitive fight,a career long Heavyweight fighter v a kick-boxer having his second pro Boxing fight ! The Usyk fight wasn’t an opportunity he earned that fight by becoming WBC mandatory,Usyk either fought Kabayel,got stripped or vacated,Usyk took the latter option .

 

Not really - when the question is why would Usyk not be bothered about fighting him, it's central to the discussion.

Frame it however you like... Simple fact is Kabayel adds very little to Usyk - and if Usyk feels he's declined and it's not worth it, fine.

I said it's possible... And I'd stand by that - we don't necessarily know if Usyk took it 100% seriously (though it would be out of character not to) or whether he's just declined a bit, or whether Rico is better than we expected and/or still think he is, or styles had an impact, etc.

Given Kabayel is pretty slow and not a massive technical or ring IQ challenge, I'd have expected Usyk to deal with him very comfortably - but again, we just don't know whether decline is a factor.

 

Given Kabayel is pretty slow and not a massive technical or ring IQ challenge, I'd have expected Usyk to deal with him very comfortably - but again, we just don't know whether decline is a factor.[/QUOTE]

Usyk did a Fury and underestimated Rico he just thought he had to turn up for the win so is decline really a factor ? .We will never know because Usyk dropped the belt to get out of the Kabayel fight,I thought Usyk would go out on a high like Lewis did fighting the best of the chasing pack then retiring,but no he dropped the belt depriving fans of the fight,a fight imo Usyk would still have been the favourite .