Kabayel: I'll only feel like a real champion after my first defence
WBC champion Agit Kabayel makes his first title defence against Nelson Hysa in Düsseldorf on 28 November – and talks of 'the Kabayel era'.
Archive image · Photo: Liv Lovisa / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Agit Kabayel does not yet quite feel like a full world champion. He was elevated from interim to full WBC heavyweight champion in June after Oleksandr Usyk vacated his titles rather than fulfil mandatory obligations. After his next fight, "definitely, it will feel like that," the 34-year-old told Louis Hart for The Ring's YouTube channel. "Usyk gave up all of his belts and this is my first fight since then."
He had pushed for a fight with Usyk: "I tried everything." Now Kabayel (27-0, 19 KOs) is looking ahead: "This is my era. The Kabayel era." On 28 November he faces the unbeaten Albanian Nelson Hysa (25-0, 23 KOs) at Düsseldorf's ESPRIT Arena, live on DAZN.
According to The Ring, more than 35,000 of the 43,000 tickets have been sold and promoter Frank Warren expects a sell-out. The venue last hosted a world heavyweight title fight in November 2015, when Tyson Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko.