After many years in the second row, boxing professional Agit Kabayel is finally entering the big stage. At the Saudis’ mega fight evening, the German heavyweight climbs into the ring in support of superstars Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. It’s the chance for more big fights. But to do this, Kabayel first has to get rid of a huge Russian.
A certain Mobutu knew long before the term “sportswashing” started making the rounds that heavyweight boxing with its “modern” gladiators is ideal for presenting autocratic rule to the whole world in a high gloss. The bloodthirsty dictator of “Zaire” (now DR Congo) put ten million dollars on the table in 1974 to encourage Muhammad Ali and George Foreman to fight in the jungle.
Less than 50 years later, Saudi Arabia is the world’s leading sports laundry company. The kingdom, ruled absolutistically by the al-Saud ruling family, is conducting an unprecedented “charm offensive” to portray itself as a gentle giant in the Persian Gulf. Soft power thanks to sports megastars and high-class events is the (foreign policy) strategy that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has entrusted to his “Entertainment” Minister Turki al-Sheikh. The means to an end is the bulging Saudi state fund, which is being tapped so that top-class sport can take place between Riyadh and Jeddah in the future.
Football greats like Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar have already answered the call of the desert, as have golf stars like John Rahm. In the prize fight, Saudi Arabia is preparing to replace Las Vegas as the epicenter of heavyweight boxing. Even the gambling Babylon of the United States can hardly keep up with the financial power of the Saudis, despite the dollar power of its casinos. “They aim to establish Saudi Arabia, and especially Riyadh, as a global center for boxing and major entertainment,” Bob Arum recently commented on the Gulf monarchs’ fistfight plans. The American promoter is 93 years old and has been in the business since Ali’s time.
Al-Sheikh’s “passion” for boxing and his “financial support” have “paved the way for blockbuster fights that were once mere aspirations,” Arum said. “When there’s a lot of money on the table, hostilities dissipate and rival organizers work together for lucrative events.”
An example: On February 17th, the unbeaten world champions Tyson Fury (WBC) and Oleksandr Usyk (WBA, IBF, WBO) will meet in Riyadh. For the first time since 1999, all recognized heavyweight world championship belts are at stake. In the spring the fight for the only true crown was over. London and its legendary Wembley Stadium did not have enough financial appeal.
Boxing: Kabayel sees “biggest event in the last 20 years”
The current climax of the heavyweight Saudi policy will take place on Saturday. In the “Kingdom Arena” in Riyadh, twelve heavyweights climb into the ring, as well as – almost as side aisles – pound-for-pound star Dmitry Bivol and cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia.
Superstars Anthony Joshua (England) and Deontay Wilder (USA) will compete in the main fights to prepare for the next cracker. If both win (Joshua against the Swede Otto Wallin, Wilder against Joseph Parker from New Zealand), the long-awaited British-American clash should take place on March 9th. Of course in the Saudi capital – as finale furious the “Riyadh Season”, which Fury and MMA star Francis Ngannou opened with their bizarre fight at the end of October and which ends on March 11th with the start of Ramadan. Panem and circuses. Bread and circus games in a new dimension.
“I think this is the biggest event we’ve had in boxing in the last 20 years. Joshua, Wilder, Bivol on one fight card. Every fight that evening could be the main fight at another event,” says Agit Kabayel in an interview with ntv.de and sport.de to the boxing extravaganza the day before Christmas Eve. The European champion from Bochum is one of the twelve selected “tribes” who are supposed to put on a big show on December 23rd, fighting against the Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov, who lives in Canada.
Saudis offer first million dollar exchange
Kabayel has been dreaming of big fights for years. Three years ago he had already signed a contract for a duel with WBC champion Fury before Corona intervened. Even after that, Kabayel was repeatedly discussed as a possible challenger to the “Gypsy Kings”, but never got a chance. Kabayel reveals that he was in “firm negotiations” with Joshua over the summer about a possible duel in the winter. Then came the Saudis with their opulent fight evening – and an offer the prizefighter couldn’t refuse. “Sometimes it’s like this in life: God wrote everything so that some fights should come at exactly the right time and now the time has come,” says the 31-year-old. For the first time in his twelve-year professional career, he earned a million-dollar purse.
Above all, Kabayel is given the largest possible stage to present himself. “I would even give up money to come out of the fight as a winner,” asserts the “boy from the Ruhr area”. With a win against the unbeaten Makhmudov, the gates to further paydays would be wide open.
But to do this, Kabayel has to clear a real block out of the way. Makhmudov – 1.97 meters tall and 119 kilograms – comes to Riyadh with the recommendation of 17 knockouts in 18 fights. Kabayel calls the man with the huge neck “extremely dangerous,” and it feels like two “ordinary” human skulls fit into his square head. Many heavyweights avoided “feared opponents” Makhmudov, Kabayel claims. The Russian “Lion,” staged as a knockout machine, is “the greatest task of my career.”
Arslanbek Makhmudov has won all of his fights by knockout – except one
But that also applies “the other way around,” emphasizes the man from the district, who has been undefeated in 23 fights. Mahmudov has never been in the ring against a boxer of his class. In fact, there are hardly any top-class players in the 34-year-old’s fight record. After all, he defeated former World Cup challenger Carlos Takam in 2022. In his first endurance test, however, the usual knockout didn’t happen straight away, Mahmudov won after ten rounds on the scoresheets.
The fight in Riyadh against Kabayel is also scheduled for ten rounds and not the full distance of twelve rounds. “He hasn’t been in the sixth or seventh round often in his career. I think his promoter and the organizers were intelligent that the fight only lasts ten rounds. I’m fit for twelve or 15 rounds,” says Kabayel, who said in his He has already gone “all twelve” four times in his career and has completed significantly more rounds (114) than short-time worker Makhmudov (42).
Kabayel wants to “shock” the boxing world – but not a fight
The fact that he opens the Saudi boxing show as a slight outsider because of his physical disadvantages (Kabayel measures 1.91 meters and weighs 109.5 kilos) doesn’t bother the German. “I think we’re going to shock the world on December 23rd. I think a lot of people really underestimate what I’m capable of. I’m going to prove a lot of people wrong on that day.”
Kabayel reports that he prepared conscientiously in Düsseldorf with his coach Sükrü Aksu. He doesn’t want to make big predictions about how the fight will go, “the game plan is to box, be intelligent, turn your head on, don’t get involved in a battle.”
Kabayel had one of these on March 4th in his hometown of Bochum. In front of a raging crowd of 4,000 souls at the RuhrCongress, he beat the Croatian Agron Smaikic in a unique three-round knockout by technical knockout and captured the European Championship belt for the second time. It was a victory that hung by a thread. In the second round, after a series of hits from the powerful southpaw, Kabayel fell into the ropes and was counted out by the referee. The favorite was on shaky legs and close to the cliff. But Kabayel showed his ability to take the fight. Smakici tiredly beat himself on the chin of the “pot colossus”. Kabayel struck back in the second round, and in the third he closed the bag with a relentless hail of fists.
“In the heavyweight division, one punch can change the whole course. That was also a huge experience for me to be in that situation, show character, come back and turn the fight around,” the Bochum native looks back. Kabayel knows that too many such “shootouts” are not beneficial. Against Makhmudov, your own resistance to punches should only, if at all, support the fist skills honed in the training camp. The motto is to outbox the slower giant – even if he is of course prepared for another “battle”, as Kabayel emphasizes.
Kabayel proved against Smakici, especially six years ago, that he can stand when it counts. On November 4, 2017, at the Casino de Monte Carlo, he defended his European title against the clearly favored Brit Dereck Chisora over twelve rounds on points. With his success on the royal stage, Kabayel announced his ambitions to have a say in the top heavyweight division. The victory could have given a career boost. However, the big battles that were hoped for did not materialize in the following years. Until now. On Saturday evening the boxing world will be watching Agit Kabayel. Saudi Arabia made sure of that.
“My job is to make sure this isn’t a one-time opportunity. I think I’ve belonged up there for a long time, but unfortunately it hasn’t happened yet,” says the German heavyweight hope: “On December 23rd we’ll see whether we did our homework well or not.”
Martin Armbruster