THIS is the fight to make at heavyweight right now. Great match-up in and of itself. Establishes the worthiest remaining contender for Usyk, by far. The hell with Dubois. Usyk already beat him. The "controversy" was stupid. "But with Dubois comes full unification!" you protest. Well, not quite. Dubois holds the IBF. Parker as of yesterday holds the WBO interim and Kabayel as of yesterday holds the WBC interim. So either way, if you want to be super pedantic about Usyk needing this or that belt to be the undisputed man in the division - he'd technically still need to collect those interim belts and bring them back into the fold along with the IBF strap. Yes the IBF alone is worth more than either the WBC interim or WBO interim, but the bottom line is there are three pieces to collect and this fight (winner of Parker vs. Kabayel) would net two versus a fight with Dubois offering just the one. Both are coming off three fairly big name victories (Wilder/Zhāng/Bakole and Makhmudov/Sánchez/Zhāng respectively) and the victor in this match-up would have a fourth consecutive major feather in their cap. Common opponents: Zhìlěi Zhāng - lost to Parker via MD in March of 2024, and via KO6 to Kabayel yesterday. Dereck Chisora - lost to Kabayel via MD in 2017 and to Parker via SD and UD, both in 2021. Parker has a 1" height advantage. Kabayel has a 4" reach advantage.
Both were slight favorites yesterday (Kabayel -125 and Parker -190) but a significant number of people were picking against them.
So it seems they might be getting Usyk vs. Dubois over with this summer, meaning his farewell bout could be the Parker vs. Kabayel winner in the winter if they link up between now and then. IMO that is best case scenario for Usyk's final two dates at this point... and not some MMA crossover sideshow.
Kabayel impressed me immensely yesterday; after spending the first round or so getting accustomed to Zhangs power, he mercilessly walked Zhang down and systematically broke him down, despite the size disparity and Zhang's undoubtable sickening power. In contrast Parker, whilst he clearly beat Zhang, had to get on his bike for the full twelve rounds. TBH I think Kabayel will do to Parker what he did to Zhang, Sanchez and Makhmudov; I also think he will give the same treatment to Joshua and Dubois. Of the current active heavyweights I would only favour Usyk against Kabayel.
