Six months removed from Oleksandr Usyk‘s dominant win over Daniel Dubois, the boxing world still doesn’t know what the Ukrainian’s next move will be. His patience has been earned, but the rest of the heavyweight division got tired of waiting to see what he will do.
Most potential opponents moved on to other fights, while Usyk secretly always had a plan. He’s eyeing two or three more bouts before retiring, and Deontay Wilder was the clear-cut next opponent. Yet despite Usyk-Wilder appearing like a lock, it has gone up in smoke. According to Wilder’s manager, Usyk’s team never sent an offer to the Bronze Bomber. Unwilling to keep waiting, the 40-year-old Wilder is close to closing a deal to fight Derek Chisora instead.
Now, Usyk will go back to the drawing board. A trilogy fight against Tyson Fury is always on the table, especially now that the Gypsy King has announced his return from “retirement”. Fury was certain Usyk was going to fight Wilder and recently spoke about that potential bout. Fury didn’t like Usyk basically chasing the money, opining that the Ukrainian should be fighting a world champion like Agit Kabayel instead.
Agit Kabayel a “possible option” for Oleksandr Usyk’s next fight
Usyk may have actually taken Fury’s words to heart, because Kabayel now appears to be a very realistic next opponent. Usyk’s manager, Sergey Lapin, recently talked to talkSPORT and acknowledged that Kabayel is “definitely a possible option”.
In today’s heavyweight top division there are no “safe” opponents, every top-level guy is a threat. Kabayel is definitely a possible option. We see how Germany reacts to these fights, the stadiums they can fill, and how strong that market is. Stylistically he can be tricky too. Pressure, pace, physicality. It would be a big European fight with strong business potential.
Kabayel doesn’t have the name of Wilder, but he has more than earned a shot at Usyk’s crown. At 27-0 with an impressive string of six straight wins by knockout, Kabayel is arguably the most dangerous opponent Usyk can face. But it seems like Usyk’s team is more worried about setting up a fight with “strong business potential“. That could lead them straight back to Fury before long.
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