A fight against Usyk—or a world title without a fight? Agit Kabayel has an exciting time ahead of him! BOXSPORT spoke with manager Lasse Krüger about complicated negotiations, successful social media campaigns, and the special spirit within Team Kabayel.
Lasse, at Turki Al-Sheikh’s request, Agit Kabayel traveled to the world championship bout between Oleksandr Usyk and Rico Verhoeven. Once there, Agit immediately issued a challenge to Usyk. Was that promotion what you had in mind?
The world title fight between Agit and Oleksandr Usyk has now been officially scheduled, which is exactly what we were aiming for. The face-off video we filmed on location in Giza has garnered over five million views. Even by international standards, that’s a figure few can match. In that sense, the promotion was a complete success from our perspective. But the important thing is that Turki Al-Sheikh himself stated again two days later that Agit, as interim world champion, is to be Usyk’s next opponent. In that respect, it all worked out perfectly.
Shortly thereafter, WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman called on the Ukrainian to step up and stated that he had 30 days to accept the world title fight against Agit. Does this deadline include negotiations?
Usyk has 30 days to accept the fight. It is then scheduled to take place within six months. In my opinion, he’ll approach this in a sportsmanlike manner. I don’t think Usyk will suddenly claim he’s injured and needs another three-month extension. If you look at how he handled the situation with Fabio Wardley back then (Usyk relinquished the WBO title instead of making a mandatory defense against Wardley; Ed.), things went very smoothly once it was clear he didn’t want to fight. That’s how communication is going right now. Spencer Brown and Queensberry are in contact with Usyk’s team and are asking very clearly: Do you want the fight or don’t you?
Agit Kabayel had posted another video shortly before, in which he says, “I think it’s time to push the horses”—it’s time to spur the horses on. This alludes to a statement Usyk made during a heated press conference when he tried to calm things down by saying, “Don’t push the horses.” What he meant was: don’t rush things, take your time.
We launched a “Push the Horses” campaign with the tagline: “We’re waiting for Usyk.” The idea for the video actually came together very quickly: concept, shoot, and production all within a day—and then we released it right away. For us, it was about giving Agit a boost and positioning him internationally as someone who has a sense of humor and can also challenge people in an entertaining way.
Our first “Push the Horses” video reached two and a half million views in no time. And …
You can find the full interview with Kabayel’s manager, Lasse Krüger, in the latest issue of BOXSPORT! Now available on the BOXSPORT app! Click here to subscribe!