I like the guy since he beat Chisora, and I think he has some real ability in that he can box, punch to the body, and is especially good as an attrition puncher. He may not be incredible at anything, but he's got a lot of hats he can wear, which makes him dangerous. He now has a belt, and though it is an e-mail championship, I have no problem with it since he had to wait so long. Now for the reality... He's 33, developed his vaunted reputation by beating four mid-to-fringe level contenders, fights once a year, looked terrible in his last against a hand-picked opponent, and is now calling out Rico Verhouven, WladKlit, and Jarrell Miller. The guy has a title and 2-4 years to make something of a legacy, but he has to start almost from scratch, and is already blowing it. A lot of people are behind him because they feel that Usyk should have fought him or surrendered the title earlier. This is no longer about Usyk. Kabayel has a money fight coming to him, but then has to step up and fight a series of real contenders, and sooner rather than later.
There's one flaw in your argument. The whole division has grown old waiting for the four ducks to leave the pond. There are not many HW's in contention significantly younger than Kabayel. Your average "real contender" is Kabayels age or older.
There will certainly be important fights in future for Kabayel, a very good fighter who, in the current difficult period of heavyweight boxing, is one of the best in the division. In my opinion he, Itauma and Dubois could provide interesting matchups in 2027. In particular, if Itauma delivers a convincing performance against Hrgovic, a fight with him against Kabayel next year would be very interesting.
Kabayel is actually 33... Moses Itauma- 21 Daniel Dubois- 28 Murat Gassiev- 32 Fabio Wardley- 31 Efe Ajagba- 32 Arten Suslenkov- 30 Justis Huni- 27 Teramoana Jr- 28 Alesei Dronov- 24 Muslim Gadhzimagomedov- 30 To name a few standouts.
Everyone started building him based on what they thought he might do against Usyk. Now Usyk removed himself from the picture.
The thing that sucks is now all the belts fractured and rather than the best fighting each other it seems they are all going to fight lesser comp to pick up the vacant belts. Wilder fury joshua and usky are not fighting torch passing fights vs the guys coming up Division seems like it may hit a point of stagnation for the next 12 months
Kabayel best reflects "the state of modern boxing" (no best vs. best fights). He has a very solid resume without defeat: Chisora, Sanchez, Zhang. And instead of getting a better opponent after back to back wins against Sanchez and Zhang - he fights the anonymous Damian Knyba. Who's next; Agron Smakici rematch? Just as Zhang only got opportunities for real fights when he was past prime.
I like the way Kabayel fights and he has some good wins. But he's soooo Inactive. 11 fights in 9 years is crazy inactive for someone for no major injuries or illnesses. He's slready fought this year so good chance , true to form, he sits about for the rest of the year.
hes done way more than ortiz ever did only seemed to be american fans that hyped up ortiz for what ever reason
think people are a little harsh on his last performance. Maybe style wise/game plan Knyba came with shows how to beat kabayel and someone better than Knyba like a fury (on a good day) with reach and movement could beat him but ring rust and nerves of the home crowd are fair reasons for a poor performance. but lets not forget it was a 3 round fight. 1st round he lost, 2nd round he was getting into his groove and 3rd round he got him out of there. as far as poor performances goes a 3rd round KO is not actually that bad.
At the end of the day Kabayel has taken every challenge put in front of him and was active on his campagin to fight Usyk and before that was trying to fight dubois before he turned it down to fight wardley. Who do you think he should go against for his first title defense? and be realistic. Usyk is off the table and will likely fight Wilder next AJ & Fury are fighting hrgovic vs itauma is on and winner will likely fight sanchez for IBF Dubois has got a rematch clause with wardley Murat will defo want a few more pay days with his WBA title before trying to unify. Parker & Okolie basically on silent bans As far as first defensives go. Miller isn't the worst fight to be made here. hes on a winning run rn and i think it would be entertaining enough. Im sure better challenges will be up next but for right now im not mad at that fight.
I couldn't disagree more, he's the second best heavyweight in the world behind Usyk. Do I think Usyk was scared and ducking him? No I don't. Do I think Usyk would have lost to him? No I do not. That's all delusional propaganda being pushed by the sociopathic Usyk haters. But I think Agit is an absolute nightmare for almost every other heavyweight on the planet, and would walk through Fury, Joshua, Dubois, Wardley and even Itauma. I've been a fan of his for over a decade and picked him to beat Chisora. Tried to warn everybody when he was being tossed out as a potential of opponent for Fury. Then picked him to pull the upsets against Makhmudov, Sanchez and Zhang. His chin is rock solid, cuts off the ring immaculately, he's learned how to sit down on his punches properly, has incredible stamina, and freakish volume. So I have no idea how you can find him mediocre.