Agit Kabayal vs Nelson Hysa set for January 10 in Oberhausen

Even having done very little at heavy, it'd be a vastly better option than Hysa, who is hyped far beyond his accomplishments...

Kabayel just doesn't have that warrior mentality of wanting to be tested constantly and become the absolute best he can be - as good as he is, he could've been better by now if he had been.

 

Not sure if the Nelson Hysa fight is still on or not, but Yoka would be a better opponent for Kabayel at this stage.
Still feels like he’s fighting too far down the rankings though, ideally he’d be facing someone higher ranked:

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Due to his unpopularity, Kabayel will not get the chance to fight Usyk, even though he deserves it, he beat Chisora, until then undefeated Makhmudov and Sanchez, and Zhang is also on his resume, and then people talk nonsense like Kabayel is unproven and has not beaten anyone, but the problem is that they pushed Wardley with the help of the judges in the last two fights by stopping the fights early...

 

Hysaas apparently out and they have a new opponent who hasn't been announced.

 

He's not a huge box office draw and isn't seen as marketable to casuals. Combined with being very good, he's a high risk, low reward for any boxer who wants to get paid a lot (big chance they'd lose) - and is seen as high risk for promoters in long-term. It's not Kabayel who makes the decision.

He beat Chisora EASILY 8 years ago. Chisora is supposed to be the "gatekeeper" but the gates didn't even move an inch for Kabayel. The entire boxing world (fans, media, promoters) ignored it, made excuses, said Chisora wasn't right, said Kabayel (if they even remembered his name) is average second-tier European level. They said Chisora was still the better fighter.
A lot of fans even whined when Fury talked about fighting him, said Kabayel was a indefensible cherry-pick. But people who know boxing knew he was good. Actually would have been Fury's most risky fight outside of his world title challenges.

This is what Kabyel has been up against.

He was an underdog against Chisora, Makhmudov and Sanchez. I'd say he's tested himself a few times, when given the chance.

 

I'll apologise in advance as this might get heated, but this lazy thinking boils my **** and it just will not die no matter how many times it's corrected.



What it comes down to is one of a few things...

Either the fighter is unwilling to take risks of their own and expects the world to be given to them on a plate.

Or they're greedy and demand way more money than their draw justifies - and understandably no-one interesting is interested.


Now yes, coming from more fashionable countries does give guys a slightly easier ride, but it's rare that it takes a complete fraud to the top and keeps them there (and we can all name the obvious cases)... But the fact that numerous guys from poorer countries and/or those where the sport is less popular can get right to the top and become huge draws in their own right proves it's a ****ing long way from a bar to entry - that's simply nonsense.


Kabayel's had chances to raise his profile, to become a draw, and he's chosen to take his foot off the gas...
He could've taken okay fights after Chisora and got himself into a position where he's more interesting for the biggest names - he chose to run back to Germany and fight bums instead (and his 50% KO rate on that streak of **** hardly made him look like a boogeyman).


These bull**** narratives always fall apart on the slightest bit of scrutiny.
I get that victimhood has been sold as having this magical hush-the-room voodoo attached to it, but that only works on morons - if you want thinking people to buy that crap, you'll have to do a lot better than that.

 

I didn't claim Kabayel was a victim from a poor country. He's from Germany.
He beat Chisora defending the European title. He continued to defend that title. He fought the same level of opponents Dubois, Pulev and Ortiz were beating to get title shots in that time frame. I'm not saying it was outstanding work. He was inactive and it is mediocre opposition. But then he went in against Makhmudov as an underdog, and against Sanchez as underdog, and the fought Zhang. Sanchez was genuine top 10 level, and Zhang was rated in top 5.

Where's the evidence that he doesn't want to test himself? His resume over the last 2 years is as good as any contender's currently and that's why he's being talked about at all now.

For whatever reason, people are downplaying his accomplishments. And that started all the way back when he beat Chisora. It can only be because they don't find him appealing as a character. Because his record is more than adequate.

 

Since Chisora he fought once a year ... occasionally twice. Kevin Johnson was one of the years. No one outside of hard-core boxing people is going to take a keen interest in someone who is out of mind 12 months at a time.

 

He went in against Makh and Sanchez as underdog because he was coming off the back of 6 years fighting domestic level journeymen - and one a year, at that... And because Makh and Sanchez were hopelessly overhyped.

Sanchez wasn't realistically a genuine top 10 kind of fighter.

Zhang is a good, solid win - but it has to be said that Zhang has always been extremely inconsistent, and his record being 50/50 against anyone remotely decent bears that out.

Two hypejobs and an ancient 50/50 fringe contender...

It's better than most purely because of how thin the division is and how many seem hesitant to take decent fights.

But the evidence he's happy not testing himself is fairly clear - his next 6 fights after Chisora were multiple levels step down from Chisora... Then after Zhang, the next fight he signs for is a circus bum KO artist, again multiple levels step down.

That willingness to take ridiculously easy touches is evidence of a guy who's happy wasting time instead of finding opponents who could be remotely challenging.

Stepping down a level or two is one thing, but Kabayel has twice chosen to step down much further than that - and for all the positives, that's a major negative that deserves to be called out.

That started when he stepped back multiple levels after Chisora instead of using that win as a springboard - and understandably so... When a fighter hits a new high and then goes into hiding, it suggests they're not confident that it wasn't a fluke.

His record is very thin, and his career trajectory is, at best, not confidence inspiring.

I wish people wouldn't make excuses for guys who look like decent fighters refusing to prove it...

 

This is a joke

He should have fought Parker

Kabayel is far too inactive.