The current heavyweight division sure is stacked with worthy contenders, contenders who all want a piece of reigning WBA/WBO/WBC heavyweight ruler Oleksandr Usyk. Going into last night’s “Last Crescendo” card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, it was pretty simple – Usyk would next fight the winner of the Daniel Dubois-Joseph Parker fight that would contest the IBF belt.
Then, as we know, just hours before the stacked card was to get underway, Dubois fell ill with, we have been informed, a virus. Parker instead fought an out of shape, late-notice foe in the huge (and overweight) form of Martin Bakole. Bakole got respect for agreeing to the late-notice assignment, but he was ultimately wiped out in a couple of rounds. Parker called out Usyk after his quick win. And Parker, the WBO interim champion, became Usyk’s WBO mandatory courtesy of his win last night.
But what about Dubois? He still wants a return fight with Usyk, “DDD” and his promoter Frank Warren still convinced that only a “robbery” prevented Dubois from winning via legit body shot KO back when he challenged Usyk in August of 2023. And Usyk has said plenty of times that Dubois is the man he wants to fight next.
But what about Agit Kabayel? Kabyel, a most deserving fighter if ever there was one – the German now having gone through Arslanbek Makhmudov, Frank Sanchez and, last night, Zhilei Zhang – became the WBC interim champion with his crushing body shot KO win over Zhang. Kabyayel is the WBC No1 contender and surely he will have to be accommodated soon enough.
Usyk has earned the right to pick and choose who he wants to fight next, so ultimately it could be up to the Ukrainian as far as which of these three deserving contenders gets the next shot against him. It sure will be interesting to see which guy Usyk picks.
Personally, I’d like to see Kabayel get his shot. This guy really has gone about his work in old-school fashion; no trash-talk, no ranting and raving, no picking and choosing, instead just fighting the guy who has been put in front of him time and again, with Kabayel taking care of business. And Kabayel has come through against some dangerous opponents.
Who would YOU like to see Usyk fight next? And remember, Usyk has said he only has two fights left before he retires. Who might these two fights be against?
