{"id":548473,"date":"2026-04-24T15:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/548473\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T15:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T15:20:15","slug":"agit-kabayel-changes-fight-plan-to-target-one-fight-next-thats-the-best-option","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/548473\/","title":{"rendered":"Agit Kabayel changes fight plan to target one fight next: &#8220;That&#8217;s the best option&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Undefeated German contender <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/boxer\/agit-kabayel\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Agit Kabayel<\/a> is deemed by many to be the number two heavyweight on the planet, behind dominant and reigning unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.<\/p>\n<p>Kabayel got his hands on the WBC Interim heavyweight title when he knocked out Zhilei Zhang last February, continuing a rich vein of form which saw him halt Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez in the two fights prior \u2013 all three of those bouts coming in Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n<p>Back In January, Kabayel made his first appearance of the year, as he received a hero\u2019s welcome upon his return to Germany and sold out the Rudolf Weber-Arena in Oberhausen, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/boxing\/news\/12040\/13492954\/agit-kabayel-stops-damian-knyba-to-retain-wbc-interim-world-heavyweight-title-and-calls-for-oleksandr-usyk-fight\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">taking only three rounds to run through Poland\u2019s Damian Knyba.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>As a result, the 33-year-old is currently on a six-fight stoppage streak and is perceived by many to be Usyk\u2019s biggest threat, with that fight likely to be ordered following the Ukrainian\u2019s clash with Rico Verhoeven next month.<\/p>\n<p>However, despite plans for Kabayel to headline another stadium in Germany this May, the unbeaten interim titleholder told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ringmagazine.com\/news\/2UhfrixTi8cEAAUWgLFibl\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ring Magazine<\/a> that, following a discussion with promoter Warren, he has decided to wait for Usyk to either be made to fight him or lose his title.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe talked with Frank Warren and Spencer Brown, the plan is now to wait for Usyk-Verhoeven. I\u2019m just waiting for the situation to sort itself out, Usyk will fight me or vacate the title, that [waiting] is the best option for me and then the results will show themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Usyk-Verhoeven takes place on Saturday, May 23, at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt, as Usyk kickstarts the first fight of a <a href=\"https:\/\/boxingnewsonline.net\/news\/oleksandr-usyk-final-three-fights\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">three-bout pre-retirement run which currently does not include Kabayel,<\/a> though he has said he will consider it with his team.<\/p>\n<p>Should the Ukrainian opt to vacate or ignore the mandatory order, Kabayel will likely be upgraded to full champion, with his next bout a first defence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Undefeated German contender Agit Kabayel is deemed by many to be the number two heavyweight on the planet,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-548473","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548473","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=548473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}