Isn't Kabayel most deserving?

Yeah, Parker had the depth beyond the top 3

 

People forget Kabayel has been waiting for a non interim title shot since Parker got his first one in the mid 2010s. Kabayel and Parker hit the scene at the same time and Kabayel has been an unbeaten regional champ that whole time while Parkers taken 3 losses. And now they are arguing that Parker deserves a 2nd one more than Kabayel deserves a 1st.

So going back further is crucial to Kabayels case.

 

I don't know about deserving or not but for sure Kabayel is the biggest threat for Usyk right now

 

absolutely this. I think he might well stop Usyk. You can go back to Usyk’s amateur fights to see to see that he’s the weird guy who has a granite chin but a bit of a glass belly. Kabayel is the worst possible opponent for a dude with that issue.

 

Yes you are missing one thing.

When Parker fought Zhang, Zhang's confidence was through the roof. Zhang was coming off back to back wins vs Joyce who not only had a great chin but was widely regarded as the #3 or #4 best heavyweight in the world.

Parker took a huge risk fighting Zhang when a lot of others didn't want to. I had Parker winning the fight closely.

Kabayel did destroy Zhang but this wasn't as good a version IMO. Zhang wasn't coming off back to back wins vs an elite top 5 opponent when he fought Kabayel. Not to mention Zhang was a year older when he fought Kabayel. And while Zhang may not look noticeably slower in a year, the truth is every subsequent year at his age is significant when it comes to aging.

For example, its highly unlikely that Usyk will be the same fighter in December of 2026 than he was last December 2024 even though technically he would have only aged 2 years. That is, if he continues.

Parker's win over Zhang is more impressive to me given the context of where Zhang was prior to the fight. Once Parker showed Zhang was beatable, Kabayel stepped in and did a great job.

And i would still take an underprepared Bakole over Makhmudomov who has been stopped every time he has stepped up.

 

Yeah... I would've loved Kabayel to be Usyk's next opponent (while Usyk still has "it"), as I would love to see how Usyk would take Kabayel's body attacks. Right now when it comes to Usyk, time means everything. He needs the right opponents while he's still on top of his game, otherwise if Kabayel were to beat Usyk in the future, once Usyk has declined a great deal, it wouldn't mean anywhere near as much. We really could've done with seeing that fight ASAP, to see how Usyk deals with him.

 

I feel like Kabayel has ducked good competition for so many years after fighting Chisora that when he actually came up around here as some 'top fighter' I had to make sure this was the same person I thought it was, the one who fought and beat Chisora all those years ago.

Then I recall when Fury was going to fight him after Wilder, he was considered a mediocre opponent.

That's why it was very surprising he suddenly got this massive hype, basically because he has filled a vacuum with a lot of old fighters getting shot or retiring.

The only proven person he beat was Zhang, and Zhang is very far from his prime. Everyone should be beating Zhang if they are a top fighter and in their prime.

Problem is that Parker avoided the hell out of the division after AJ and only recently started taking on challenges. Even then he beat fighters who were past it before the Dubious fight was scheduled.

I don't think either are really deserving of the Usyk fight. In fact Dubious is the only one, ironically enough, since he actually beat Croatian and AJ which is better than anything Parker and Kabayel did.

 

No, Parker deserves a title fight now
Kabayel can fight the winner

 

Parker and Kabayel both have pretty good cases. Just looking at their recent common opponent Zhang, Parker won in a decision that was a fleas fart from being a draw because he got dropped twice, while Kabayel also got dropped but then went on to become the first person to stop him as a pro. At the same time though, when Kabayel got to him he was a year older, and considering he's in his forties that matters a whole hell of a lot more than you'd think.

Then we take a look at their other two opponents. I'd call Wilder and Bakole better wins than Makhmudov and Sanchez, and they were both also coming off of pretty good wins themselves, with Wilder stopping Helenius is one round and Bakole beating the snot out of Jared Anderson. Then again, Wilder was also coming off of a year of inactivity and Bakole was such a last second opponent he didn't even get to be at the weigh in the day before.

Tough call to make. Only thing I can say for sure is I'd personally prefer either to Dubois. Dubois is on a run that's at least as good as theirs, but he also already had his crack at Usyk and got shut out on the way to a stoppage, so that alone makes him getting the shot pretty lame to me. Is what it is though.

 

100% agree. Kabayel is the most deserving of the Usyk fight, and he's also stylistically the most dangerous opponent to Usyk.

I find it interesting that Usyk has chosen to rematch Dubois whom he has already beaten easily; acknowledge but avoid his WBO mandatory Parker; and not even acknowledge his WBC mandatory Kabayel.

Not saying Usyk is necessarily ducking, but Usyk knows boxing, and I believe he and his team know who the real threat in the division is.

 

Usyk should have done the honorable thing and faced one of his mandatories, Parker (WBO) or Kabayel (WBC).

Dubois was gifted his IBF belt for his head butt, undeserved win over Hrgovic. He's only getting the fight because he's British, and the fight will sell in London.

 

There was not a huge difference between the Zhang who fought Parker and the Zhang who fought Kabayel, and I'm saying that as a Zhang fan.

He was slow, lethargic and inactive in both, and he dropped both Parker and Kabayel. The difference in those fights wasn't Zhang, it was the styles of Parker vs Kabayel: Parker boxed cautiously on the backfoot to maintain range control and win points, whereas Kabayel fought at a higher pace on the front foot looking to stop Zhang.

As a Zhang fan first and foremost, Kabayel's win was far more impressive to me.

 

It’s the one I want to see but it’s just Another fight we will never get to see sadly.

usyk will probably fight Parker after dubois and retire.