What’s Next For Agit Kabayel?
Agit Kabayel knocked out Zhilei Zhang in their heavyweight clash to win the WBC Interim Heavyweight Title, raising question marks over his next steps.
Kabayel remains undefeated, taking his record to 26-0. 18 of those wins are by knockout. Zhang began on the front foot, as he so often does. He buzzed Kabayel with his southpaw backhand, a shot which has dropped Joe Joyce and Joseph Parker. Kabayel hit back strongly in the second round by targeting the midsection. Zhang once again reminded Kabayel of the danger of throwing more, landing an uppercut in return. However, Kabayel’s plan was working as Zhang started to slow down.
Kabayel Reacts
But then, out of nowhere, Kabayel was caught slacking. Zhang connected with a left hand to drop him in the fifth. It was not a massive knockdown, but the 10-8 round swung the tide in Zhang’s favor. But that good work was undone in the next round. Kabayel’s repeated body attack was enough to make Zhang take a knee. The Chinese heavyweight could not beat the count, giving Kabayel the win. He is now in a position to face Oleksandr Usyk.
“Every training we go to the body, go to the head. My coach said after the fifth round you will see he has no condition. You will break him. And you see, I broke him. No, Zhang has a very hard punch but hen he punched me that time I didn’t see it, that was the problem. He punched me, I go down and I stand up. That punch was not hard. In my head I was crazy – I was going to fight [when I got back up]. My coach said, ‘don’t fight, wait.’ Okay, I waited and you seen I brought him down,” Kabayel said
If the Usyk fight does not present itself, he could take on Joseph Parker. The latter stopped Martin Bakole to become the WBO Interim Heavyweight Champion. That was Parker’s third win over a big-name heavyweight after victories against Deontay Wilder and Zhang. Parker is also in contention to face Usyk. But the latter has said he wants to fight Daniel Dubois next.
Kabayel Vs. Parker
That would be a rematch of their first clash, which Usyk won. That offers Kabayel a chance to face Parker, with the winner facing off against Usyk. Parker plans to become undisputed, leaving this as a possible eliminator for the Ukrainian. Parker’s promoter, David Higgins, was targeting a shot for all the belts.
“If Dubois-Usyk happens, there will be a unified champion and Joseph can have a crack at that towards the end of this year. The key is to keep winning. As a team now, we feel we’re right at the top echelon, and Joseph has a genuine shot at unifying the division and becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world like Muhammad Ali was, which would perhaps be the greatest achievement in New Zealand sport if it can be done,” Parker’s promoter David Higgins stated
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