Sükrü Aksu left his voice in the desert. With full commitment in the ring corner, the coach fox drove his protégé Agit Kabayel in Riyadh to a spectacular co-triumph over China colossus Zhang Zhoei. The reward: Kabayel is now WBC interim world champion and compulsory challenger from heavyweight king Oleksandr Usyk.
After a few days at home in Velbert, Aksu is only a little hoarse than sport.de rang through. In an exclusive interview, the 58-year-old explains how Kabayel won the fight, talks about possible duels with Usyk or Vladimir Klitschko-and makes a comparison with a box icon.
Sport.de: Sükrü, they have been Agit Kabayel’s coach for more than a decade, have known him since he was a teenager. Now they have celebrated the greatest success of their career together as part of the most spectacular boxing show in Riad. After that, they seemed stirred with pride, almost a little like a proud father – take us in your heart.
Sükrü Aksu: When you have reached such a beautiful destination … (considered, becomes emotional). You work all your life and always get stones in the way and still manage this path. It was just a great feeling.
Especially because they have such an intimate relationship-not just a sporty, professional, but a kind of father-son relationship?
I know agit better than almost everyone else, almost as good as his parents. I know how he ticks. Agit is a clean, correct boy. What do you think, how many offers he gets during the day, that he should leave me, how many Schlauberger say, he should change the coach. He doesn’t do. I am also grateful to him. Take and give – that’s how it is in life.
Yesterday Ulli Wegner called me, so I was really happy. Wilfried Sauerland wrote to me personally. We did it together, it doesn’t work alone. Many who are now recognizing our performance see that we always work in a team everywhere.
With Zhang Zhoei, Agit Kabayel has now cleared the third Brocken in a row to Arslanbek Makhmudov (late 2023) and Frank Sanchez (May 2024). How did you like this giant colossus from China?
When you see how hard the first round was – we quickly changed to box in a completely different dimension. We messed up. His trainer came to us in the cabin after the fight and said I had a strong game plan with which he did not expect. That speaks for us. I can change in a fight immediately, that speaks for me.
What did that look like in the corner: Which route did you spend after round 1, in which Zhang landed hard hits?
In this round, Agit has stuck blows that have knocked out many other heavyweight. Then we said: Now we put pressure! I was certain: such a colossus – 1.98 meters, 130 kilos – cannot withstand this pressure, unless he beats a KO, as in the fifth round. We are in the danger zone, we took full risk. I used to be a legal interpreter like Zhang and hired Agit in such a way that in the end I didn’t mind anything.
How would you describe Agit Kabayel’s style? It had something of a Bochum Bulldozer …
For me, agit is the modern George Foreman. He marches forward, fought in this fight like foreman as before. How easy to change the upper body and combine blows – he did it perfectly. There is no heavyweight who beats so many combinations. And that against such a big world-class man. One should not forget: just as Zhang boxed for its size and weight, that was sensational. He knows where he’s falling and does not only beat individual hands.
Kabayel coach: “We also wanted to break Zhang mentally”
Did you have a special trick to set your boxer between the rounds? You are known for clear, short announcements during the break.
I told him: be careful now that you don’t get anything on Kopp! Then I told him: you know what, get up. He asks: Why? I say: get up – 30 seconds before it started again. That was in the second or third round. Then I saw how the Zhang trainer looked over. They got mixed up, they thought: Oh, after these goals he was back in his corner and wants to get started. We also wanted to break Zhang mentally.
After that, her husband totally had the fight under control. But they have already mentioned the fifth round: it suddenly made buff and Agit Kabayel lay on the ground. He then immediately looked into the corner: What did you give him at this critical moment?
It was a hit, a guard. If you collect a real hit, you fall on the back of the head. Agit has fallen on the side and has supported the arm. The blow was good in it, but Agit’s balance was not there at the moment either. He looked at me, I looked at him. I’m there, he said. Then I said: All right! Then I screamed: Agit, don’t stop!
I know Agit, he wanted to show a brawl and the Chinese that there was nothing. But that would have been a mistake at that moment. Zhang has got a second air and it can hit, is a heavyweight through and through. Every blow from him can send you sleep. We didn’t want to take this risk. I said: move you! When he had recovered and was really good in the fight again, he slowly ran away and at the back of the round he was the better again.
Agit, despite the hard left, immediately stood on firm legs: a word about his chin …
I would say iron chin (breathe through). He swallowed a few things in the first round, so I thought: Boah, what is that?! If we had continued to box, we would have lost. You shouldn’t let Zhang, you have already seen that against Joe Joyce (2023, d.Red.). Then it’s over. We did that what nobody expected: we didn’t let it box.
Kabyal coach: “I saw and thought agit: that doesn’t exist!”
Zhang has breathed more heavily with every round, every minute, and has cheated after air – a result of the constant body attacks …
Agit knows where the liver is sitting (smiles). He went through the middle to the liver. I can explain that: Zhang has long arms, then the liver is closed on the side. We always practiced in training to hit the liver through the middle. Agit later hit the side, but most of the strokes came through the middle, which Zhang could not cover. That was a crucial point. In addition, Agit brought the right cross to the finish. At some point Zhang no longer knew where to cover: above or below. The variation fit well.
I repeat myself: I saw and thought agit, that doesn’t exist! It looks like George Foreman. Only forward.
Kabayel vs. usyk? “Why should he box against us?”
Shortly before the sixth round, they screamed: “Agit, the fight is over in three rounds.” Then they were wrong …
I had already seen after the second round how far zhang my mouth was. He breathed heavily and loudly. This is a person, not a machine. He fought with himself and with agit. Agit, on the other hand, only fought with Zhang. Zhang had to get air somewhere, but Agit was on him on it like a magnet, did not leave him alone. Zhang really bothered that, which is why he kept putting away. I said Agit: put pressure, make him nervous! He should constantly work that Zhang no longer gets air.
Agit skin between 120 and 180 hands per round of prayer training. On the first day of training in Riad, even after three rounds, I had no strength to hold my hands up because the boy always marches. That was Zhang’s mistake: he tried to fight along instead of an agit. It was clear to me: he couldn’t do that in 100 years. The pace was too high for such a big man.
Agit Kabayel is now “interim” world champion at the WBC and thus a compulsory challenger of heavyweight king Oleksandr USYK. The big question is: what’s next?
I don’t know, the managers do that. I cannot imagine that Usyk wants to fight against agit voluntarily. Usyk said he wants to box twice: why should he box against us? When he fights against Agit, Usyk has to call up more than against Tyson Fury. Both are the same size, both are fast. I saw Usyk on the ring in Riad: he followed Agit very carefully and looked seriously.
Speaking of Ukrainians personally, Kabayel has personally buckled up a WBC belt. What was going on in her head when this legend, this future Hall of Famer presented the title?
A great feeling. Usyk is a great fighter, you will always remember that. The boy has boxed so often as an outsider and always won – respect! And what I particularly liked: Usyk has expressed Agit’s name perfectly. That means he has already dealt with him.
If we are already there: who else congratulated? There were a lot of stars and box sizes in riad …
Oscar de la Hoya, Bernard Hopkins, Lennox Lewis, of course. He put me and said: Good job! Before the fight, many other coaches didn’t even look at me, after that everyone congratulated – without exception. That was nice.
And then as I said, Mr. Wegner called. I go to the phone, it’s Mr. Wegner on it. I didn’t even know how to talk, what to say. The man saw everything is a living legend. When someone calls like this – it’s a nice thing.
Sükrü Aksu: The World Cup title counts, not Klitschko
Back to the question of how to proceed. If Usyk does not box against Kabayel, the WBC title would be vacant. Then your boxer could automatically be upgraded to the full world champion or boxing around the crown against another. Either way-the next fight has to be a World Cup fight …
Must be! We were already held in the last fight against Sanchez. We want to be world champion. Now you have to give us the chance. We now also have people with Frank Warren and Spencer Brown at our side who have power and influence.
The Saudi string puller Turki al-Heikh makes no secret of the fact that he wants a comeback from Vladimir Klitschko to give him the chance to break the record of George Foreman as the oldest heavyweight champion. Klitschko also seems to be hot. The idea of a mega fight in Germany comes automatically: Kabayel vs. Klitschko.
We don’t need to talk about Vladimir Klitschko: This is a real champion, no scandals, nothing. A great sportsman.
But with a view to the financial possibilities, they would not be averse, right?
I speak for myself, not for agit. I am no longer concerned with financial. I am concerned with becoming world champion with agit. If you have arrived up there now and only a fight from being world champion, then you give everything. That is much more interesting for me. Money comes and goes, sometimes stays, calms life. Klitschko has endless money and still wants to be there. He doesn’t need money, I can’t imagine that. But he no longer has the fame as a world champion, he wants that again. That’s what it’s about: once world champions become agit.
Almost 100 years after Max Schmeling, that would also be a very special story. To date, Schmeling is the only German on this box Olympus.
We’re talking about Max Schmeling here – a big name. The man was a role model for the whole people. He helped Jews at the time, it was a great person. Joe Louis, his ex-rival, also helped financially after his career when the bankruptcy was. I was in a fight in Frankfurt, when the two friends sat together on the ring – madness.
Nobody believed in us years ago. Agit’s last fights speak for themselves.