Gassiev at cruiser was far more dangerous and beastly than Kabayel. Hence why the bookmakers had it even going into the fight. Others are arguable/ close. Usyk chose not to fight Wardley and Parker also. If you claim he ducked Kabayel he must have ducked them too! I think Usyk got to the stage where he decided to choose his fights... mostly based on money. Which after all he's done .. fighting the best and most dangerous fighters non-stop in their backyards and beating them , I'll give him a pass on. Kabayel is good, but is starting to get overrated. He's not good enough to trouble Usyk in my opinion, I think he would have been made for Usyk. Shame it didn't happen.
Yeah, ducking a paper champion who has no amateur background and who was knocked down by #196 in 2nd round. Lol.
Yes exactly That's why Kabayel got into the ring after the Rico fight which was obviously planned from before hand Usyk looked like he had a panic attack and wanted no part of it Then vacated all of his belts to not fight Kabayel and instead do a farewell fight There's no way to argue that Usyk isn't ducking Kabayel other than being anti Kabayel or a complete Usyk fan boy or both
There are plenty of other top Heavyweights for him to fight. He’s going to have to travel out of Germany to do such as boxing is dead there right now.
There really aren't a lot of top heavyweights for him to fight Most big names aren't willing to sign up to fight someone who is that dangerous and that big of a money fight That's the whole point of the belts they give people like Agit Kabayel a chance at a mandatory that they otherwise would never get That's what makes the Usyk thing so disappointing
I don't think Wardley would take it His career is basically over if he doesn't beat Dubois in a rematch Besides I don't think Kabayel is the type of marque name that would get someone to put up step aside money His path to the title is through mandatory challenges Just like Usyk when he fought Anthony Joshua
Gassiev was overrated. For instance, he scraped an SD against Lebedev, who was a blown up LHW. I was not surprised when he lost to Wallin at 29, who was a C level HW. If bookies odds are a factor to consider then the Kabayel fight would be seen as a significant minority risk at this stage. He is good enough to give Usyk trouble: I would not be confident of the Rico/post-Rico version of Usyk beating the Chisora he fought at 33. Usyk may well have fought Parker if he'd beaten Wardley as he'd have been a 2x titlist on a streak including Wilder, Zhang, Bakole and Wardley. After he lost to Wardley it made less sense. Are Rico and 41 year old Wilder bigger money fights than Kabayel? I'm not sure, but they are lower prestige. And if Jake Paul was a big money fight I would criticise Usyk if he fought him while keeping the belts.
Yet I think you were pretty unhappy about him choosing dubois over Parker. And rightfully so. You can put that down to Warren doing a good job or 'boxing politics'. But the fact is that even then, calling in sick for parker should have lost dubois the shot at usyk and in the end it was usyk who picked the most lucrative option. From a boxing fans perspective that is annoying and people who call this self serving behaviour out and say they lose interest/admiration for usyk are put down for not accepting that it is a intelligent choice to make to take money over the sports integrity. I dont care one little bit about usyks money. I care as little about furys or joshuas. They give us fury ngannou, joshua paul or usyk verhoeven and i am losing admiration, interest and generally want other fighters to succeed in their stead.
And to add to that: Fury, Joshua, Dubois, Parker and all relevant english speaking heavies have had a million title shots come their way, which is conveniently ignored. Yes, usyk is one of the few to make it to the top and stay there and that is down to his unbelievable skill, but he is also playing the same Game. In the 30s or whenever it was, he would have been one of the murderers row getting a title and never matching the Others. It's not usyk's obligation, but people talk like kabayel was given all the opportunities.(Hrgovic is a similar case) I don't see evidence of that so far. We'll see what happens next and I am as unhappy about one fight a year as anyone else. But as far as I see he took his opportunities and passed his tests.
It would've been a good name, legacy wise, to add to Usyk's record since Kabayel is undefeated. I'd rather watch Usyk-Kabayel and then Usyk-Rico/Fury, than Usyk-Wilder.