Heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk has relinquished his WBO belt. This increases Agit Kabayel’s chances of a world championship fight against the Ukrainian.
The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has announced that Oleksandr Usyk has relinquished his world championship belt. The Ukrainian, who had unified the world heavyweight titles, now holds the WBC, IBF and WBA belts. Usyk is therefore no longer Undisputed Champion.
Wardley new WBO champion
Usyk had already applied to the WBO for an extension to his mandatory defense in the summer. After “careful consideration”, he has now decided to take this step, according to the statement.
This means that the current interim champion Fabio Wardley has been upgraded to the new WBO world champion – increasing Agit Kabayel’s chances of getting a title fight against Usyk soon. Kabayel is the interim heavyweight champion of the WBC and thus the official contender to world champion Usyk. The German “Leberking” is currently the Ukrainian’s only mandatory challenger. This is because the other IBF and WBA federations still have internal duels ahead of them.
WBC must exert pressure
So if Kabayel wins his fight against Poland’s Damian Knyba on January 10, his next fight could be a world championship duel against Usyk. Will there then be a big showdown between Kabayel and the WBC world champion in the summer? “It’s cool that the WBO has also come through for their athlete, that they’re doing their thing,” Leberking told the portal
In any case, Germany’s top heavyweight has his sights set on his upcoming ring appearance in Oberhausen in early 2026. “I’m now concentrating on January 10. If it is then adorned with the world championship fight, all the better for German boxing. And if not, then not. I have to win either way. Everything else comes afterwards,” said Kabayel. After all, the chances of Agit Kabayel becoming the first German world champion of any class since the legendary Max Schmeling (1930) have increased as a result of recent developments.
Text: Frank Schwantes