After an impressive winning streak in Saudi Arabia, Agit Kabayel finally wants to present himself to the German fans again on January 10th in Oberhausen. Finding an opponent for the “Homecoming” turns out to be difficult when ex-champion Daniel Dubois suddenly throws down the gauntlet to the “Liver King” and a French Olympic champion signs a fight contract. What’s behind it?
Agit Kabayel has had an interesting weekend. On Saturday evening, the German heavyweight star was in the O2 Arena in London and witnessed a sensation.
British underdog Fabio Wardley defeated Joseph Parker of New Zealand by technical knockout in the eleventh round to become the next challenger to heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk. A sensation. An unexpected shock for the clearly favored Parker.
Kabayel had already had a much nicer shock. In the run-up to the fight, the 33-year-old was on a stage with several top heavyweights, including former world champion Daniel Dubois.
And the Brit unexpectedly opened verbal “fire” towards Kabayel. “Listen! I’m ready to get started. I’m going to take on Kabayel, I’m ready for him, ready to get back on top,” said the 28-year-old Englishman.
Video: Exclusive: Kabayel challenges Usyk
Kabayel reacted immediately. “Let’s do the fight, Daniel. It’s the best thing we can give the fans,” said the interim world champion of the WBC Association.
Boxing: Dubois vs. Kabayel – is it just a show or is there really something behind it?
The body hook mill from the pot against the British knockout – it is without a doubt one of the best fights currently possible in the heavyweight division. But how much substance is behind Dubois’ announcement? Is it all a show, just commercial noise, or is there really something behind it?
According to information from sport.de The Kabayel camp approached the management of the former IBF world champion weeks ago in search of an opponent for the planned fight in Germany. Because: The German doesn’t actually want to settle for a “stay-busy” fight and manage his status as WBC mandatory challenger to world champion Usyk. Kabayel wants the greatest possible sporting challenge in front of him. Dubois’ new coach Tony Sims in particular is said to have declined. His appearance in London was all the more surprising.
In the meantime, Team Kabayel had explored other options, but the search for an opponent for January 10th was extremely difficult. For a long time, the Albanian Nelson Hysa (number 9 WBO, number 7 WBA) was considered the likely choice of opponent (sport.de reported). After Hysa’s dubious victory against the Croatian Abel Pesut on October 10th in Tirana, Kabayel promoter Queensberry and chief mastermind Frank Warren apparently rejected the option.
Kabayel: “It’s more important to make big fights now”
Kabayel made it clear on Monday in a question and answer session with fans on Instagram that he was aiming for the fight with Dubois. “Send me the location,” wrote the Bochum resident, among others, to the address of veteran promoter Warren, with whom Dubois is also under contract.
However, it is questionable whether this fight would still take place in Germany – something Kabayel is also aware of. “My dream is to bring boxing back to Germany. But: I know that this day will come and for me it is more important to have big fights now,” answered the Bochum native in response to a question from a boxing fan.
He will fight “wherever Daniel wants it – I will be there. England, Riyadh, Germany – just send me the location. No excuses.”
Video: Agit Kabayel shows RTL his WBC gold
Olympic champion signs contract to fight Kabayel
How sport.de learned that Queensberry has reserved a large arena in England for February. So an appropriate venue would be available. Like Kabayel, Dubois currently doesn’t have a really attractive option for his first fight since the painful knockout defeat against Usyk and the loss of the IBF crown on July 19th at Wembley.
The IBF has ordered a world championship elimination fight between Dubois and the Cuban Frank Sanchez (who was knocked out against Kabayel in 2024). However, this duel in England is unlikely to attract anyone from behind the stove and will produce extremely manageable pay-per-view numbers. Million dollar purses à la Saudi Arabia are not possible for duels with opponents from the second row – neither for Dubois in England nor for Kabayel in Germany.
It still seems unlikely that Dubois vs. Kabayel will take place in winter. But: Next summer there could be a German-English boxing blockbuster as part of a big boxing show – then possibly also in a German football stadium (sport.de reported) and for the world title, unless Usyk dutifully defends the WBC belt.
The question remains who Kabayel will box against if nothing changes to the Oberhausen plan for January 10th. In an Instagram video, the Frenchman Tony Yoka showed an alleged fight contract for a duel with Kabayel, which he signed. “Now you sign your part and we’ll see each other in the ring on January 10th,” demanded the Rio 2016 Olympic champion.
Yoka was considered an opponent of Kabayel months ago. The 2.01 meter giant is also under contract with Warren. But: In the boxing business it is common for large promoter agencies to send contracts to several boxers in order to have options or to leave them open.
The only thing that is certain is that nothing is certain for the time being.