‘Maybe he doesn’t want his liver to get tested’: Agit Kabayel on Usyk, others ducking fights
· Yahoo Sports
Agit Kabayel feels like he’s being avoided, and the German heavyweight is tired of sitting quietly.
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Kabayel says Oleksandr Usyk and others have ducked fights with him, including some where he’s agreed to stipulations only to see fights not come to fruition.
Kabayel responded to questions and comments on his Instagram story, let’s break it down by fighter.
Fabio Wardley
“We asked for the fight many times and everybody except (Wardley) wanted to do it. We offered to fight him in England even though we sell more tickets in Germany. He declined. We offered him […] a rematch clause, only for him, just in case of my win, so he has two chances. He still said no. Now, after (Derek) Chisora didn’t want to fight him […] he is talking about that he just wants to make the biggest fights and doesn’t even mention my name.”
Daniel Dubois
“Dubois is now fighting Wardley, which suits well, because he also ducked me. They offered me a fight in England last year, I (accepted) all terms within a day, but then he said no. After that, he said live on stage he wants to fight me. We stopped everything else and then he (instead) made some holidays.”
Murat Gassiev
(Gassiev was referenced because BoxRec has him ranked No. 5 at heavyweight, behind Oleksandr Usyk, Kabayel, Wardley, and Dubois.)
“By the way: My promoters also asked Gassiev’s team if they were interested in a fight. They weren’t. Now I’m ranked No. 2 in the world [by BoxRec], but no one from the top five wants to fight me. From my perspective as a fighter: Out of respect for the fans and for the sport of boxing, we should make the best fights possible and continue the great legacy of this sport.”
Oleksandr Usyk
“I wouldn’t say a legend like him is scared. But somehow he is always avoiding my name when he talks about opponents. Maybe he just doesn’t want his liver to get tested by my body shots.”
Kabayel (27-0, 19 KO) started turning heads with destructive wins over Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez in 2023-24, and did the same sort of work in his next two fights, stoppage victories over Zhilei Zhang and Damian Knyba. The win over Zhang netted Kabayel the WBC’s interim heavyweight title.