Heavyweight star Agit Kabayel has once again won the prestigious BOXSPORT “Boxer of the Year” award. Abass Baraou and Noel Mikaelian took the other places. In the women’s category, Tina Rupprecht was named “Boxer of the Year”.
Agit Kabayel has won the BOXSPORT “Boxer of the Year 2025” poll. The BOXSPORT community and a panel of experts voted for the winner of the year 2025 in two categories. The high-caliber panel included former world champion Regina Halmich, former Klitschko manager Bernd Bönte, coaching legend Ulli Wegner and boxing idol Axel Schulz.
Next triumph for “Tiny Tina”
Agit Kabayel landed a hat-trick of titles with his victory in the “Boxer of the Year – Professional Men” category. The 33-year-old heavyweight from Bochum had already won the popular BOXSPORT poll in 2023 and 2024. Last year, Kabayel once again proved his world class when he defeated China’s Zhilei Zhang by knockout on February 22, 2025 in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) to become interim WBC champion. Abass Baraou and Noel Mikaelian, who both became world champions last year, came second and third in the BOXSPORT voting.
In the “Professional Women” category, Tina Rupprecht won the title of “Boxer of the Year 2025”. The Augsburg native unified the world championship belts of the four major world associations in the atomweight division and became the first German ever to become undisputed world champion. Rupprecht thus set a historic milestone in boxing.
Agit Kabayel about …
… his election as “Boxer of the Year 2025”: “It feels fantastic. I’ve now won the BOXSPORT vote for the third time after 2023 and 2024. I would like to thank everyone who voted for me. Love to all of you! None of this would be possible without you!”
… a possible title fight in Germany against world champion Oleksandr Usyk: “I think we are as far as we have ever been in terms of a world championship fight. My manager Spencer Brown has been in contact with Usyk’s team, but nothing is concrete. However, I think it’s a great pity that the World Boxing Council (WBC) is still not ready to declare mandatory status for me. Even though I’ve been waiting for it for a year and a half, if not longer.”
… his successful “homecoming” against Damian Knyba in front of 13,000 fans on January 10, 2026 in Oberhausen: “People have seen that we can sell out big arenas in this country and make boxing big again. The fans are more into boxing again – now we have to try to jump on this ‘hype train’ and do an even bigger thing.”
Text: Frank Schwantes