“You were my first coach—and you’ll be my last, too.”
Agit Kabayel, the new WBC heavyweight world champion, addressed these words to his trainer, Sükrü Aksu, via Instagram. Aksu has been by Kabayel’s side as his coach since Kabayel was 17 years old—even during difficult times, when virtually no one in Germany believed in the professional boxer with Kurdish roots anymore.
“Sükrü, you’ve become so much more than just a coach to me,” the 33-year-old professional boxer posted on social media, “you’re like a second father to me. I made you a promise back then: You were my first coach—and you’ll be my last, too.”