{"id":374862,"date":"2026-01-17T08:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T08:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374862\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T08:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T08:19:14","slug":"unbeaten-heavyweight-ready-for-stadium-fight-against-oleksandr-usyk-itd-be-incredible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374862\/","title":{"rendered":"Unbeaten heavyweight ready for stadium fight against Oleksandr Usyk: “It’d be incredible”"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> truly intends to limit the remainder of his career to just two or three more fights, the queue to challenge boxing\u2019s heavyweight king is only going to grow longer.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old recently admitted as much and, with retirement edging ever closer, contenders are already positioning themselves for a shot at the Ukrainian\u2019s crown. Usyk currently holds three of the four recognised heavyweight titles and remains unbeaten at the top level.<\/p>\n

Discussions are already underway for Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) to defend his belts against former WBC champion Deontay Wilder in the United States. Should he emerge victorious once again, and with his record intact, a return to Europe later in the year could be firmly on the agenda.<\/p>\n

One man waiting patiently in the wings is WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel (27-0, 19 KOs). The German heavyweight electrified a partisan crowd in Oberhausen on January 10 with a destructive third-round stoppage of towering Pole Damian Knyba<\/a>. Afterwards, Kabayel made it clear that a full world title shot is his next ambition \u2014 ideally against Usyk, or possibly WBO champion Fabio Wardley.<\/p>\n

Kabayel\u2019s manager, Spencer Brown, has echoed his fighter\u2019s ambitions but accepts that patience will be required, with a potential showdown against Usyk unlikely to materialise until later in 2026 at the earliest. Speaking to Pro Boxing Fans<\/a>, Brown revealed he has already held talks with WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman, though he remained guarded on the details.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t say too much, but he basically said it will come when we\u2019re ready. It will come. But Agit is our champion. We\u2019ll treat him like a champion. Usyk\u2019s not got a mandatory. So, he can do whatever he wants and fight whatever he wants. But there is a six-month window and we need to adhere to that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usyk last faced a German opponent in 2017 during his cruiserweight reign, when Marco Huck attempted \u2014 unsuccessfully \u2014 to unseat him at Berlin\u2019s Max-Schmeling-Halle. Based on Saturday night\u2019s atmosphere in Oberhausen, a Usyk\u2013Kabayel clash could attract a crowd well beyond arena capacity, with a stadium setting a realistic possibility.<\/p>\n

Brown believes the fight would deliver both commercially and competitively.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019d be some fight between these two [in a stadium]. It\u2019d be incredible. The atmosphere would be incredible. There are a lot of Ukrainians here [in German]. Lot of Kurds. The Germans. There was a lot of English here tonight \u2026 So, all signs are great.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll we can do is put it on him and see if he\u2019ll do it. He\u2019s very game. He\u2019ll fight anybody. He doesn\u2019t care what backyard you\u2019re in. He\u2019ll fight anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Usyk\u2019s proven willingness to travel<\/a> \u2014 and to face challengers on their own turf \u2014 ensures that a showdown with Kabayel remains a realistic possibility. With time running down on the champion\u2019s career, every contender knows the same thing: opportunities at the heavyweight summit are becoming fewer, and none can afford to be missed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Oleksandr Usyk truly intends to limit the remainder of his career to just two or three more…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351801,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-374862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=374862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}