Usyk, Wardley or someone else entirely: Who will be Kabayel’s next opponent? And: How and when can the “Leberking” get a top or world championship fight? Expert Bernd Bönte analyzes the tricky situation in BOXSPORT.
Hello Bernd, WBC world champion Oleksandr Usyk has named his last three preferred opponents: Kickboxer Rico Verhoeven, the winner of Wardley vs. Dubois and a third fight against Tyson Fury. What does this mean for WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel?
That’s not good news for Agit Kabayel for the time being. From my point of view, he would have deserved to fight Usyk first in sporting terms. But Usyk is understandably planning the most lucrative options at the end of his career – and these are apparently the opponents he has now named. From Agit’s point of view, one can only hope that Wardley wins against Dubois. A third Usyk vs. Dubois fight would hardly be marketable after Dubois’ two clear knockout defeats, even if it were for undisputed status.
My hope is therefore that the WBC will subsequently enforce the fight against Agit after Usyk’s voluntary title defense against Rico Verhoeven has now been approved. The only problem is that the WBC rules often contain the general phrase “at its discretion” – and that makes it difficult to enforce anything legally.
Nevertheless, I still hope that Agit gets his world title fight. And if Usyk doesn’t go down this route after all and the WBC decides that Agit should become world champion or fight for the vacant title against Lawrence Okolie or Tony Yoka, for example, that would of course also be an excellent solution. In the end, only one thing is decisive: Agit must now get the world title fight – by whatever means.
Do you have the feeling that the WBC will support Usyk’s “wish list”?
In my experience with the WBC, anything is possible. If the association sanctions a fight against Verhoeven as a voluntary title defense – which is actually absolutely unbelievable – then that shows how much discretion they have. In my view, the main reason behind this is the business model: where there is money to be made and high sanctioning fees are possible, experience shows that the WBC is happy to be involved. It’s also very lucrative for the association because it collects the sanctioning fees on Usyk’s side and also on the interim champion Agit Kabayel.
There is also the situation after the end of the WBO world championship fight between Wardley and Dubois. If Usyk then says he wants to box the winner, it would be another undisputed fight – and such a fight would theoretically even take precedence over a mandatory defense.
You can find the complete interview with boxing expert Bernd Bönte in the current BOXSPORT special! Now in the BOXSPORT app! Click here to subscribe!