As expected, Agit Kabayel has been promoted by the WBC from interim champion to full heavyweight champion, following Oleksandr Usyk‘s decision to vacate all three of his title belts.
Usyk had been ordered to make his due mandatory defense against the 33-year-old Kabayel (27-0, 19 KO). The two had until June 30 to come to an agreement on a fight before it went to purse bids. Obviously, that won’t be necessary.
Usyk vacating the WBC instead of taking that ordered fight was always on the table, and at worst seemed about 50/50. He’d vacated titles in the past rather than field a mandatory, opting for bigger fights at those times, and this time he says he doesn’t want to clog up the division as he nears his exit from the sport.
Kabayel won the interim title over Zhilei Zhang in February 2025, and defended this past January in Germany against Damian Knyba. And he now operates with the leverage of being the WBC champion.
His old friend and former training partner Tyson Fury has mentioned potentially fighting Kabayel if he were to be elevated to champion status, which is one of the many things that makes the Fury vs Anthony Joshua fight seem like anything but the done deal everyone keeps insisting it is despite their many obvious soft warnings that it kind of isn’t.
