Agit Kabayel sets deadline for Oleksandr Usyk fight decision as he expects rival to vacate title

Agit Kabayel will give Oleksandr Usyk one week to decide whether he wants to face him and defend his titles.

Usyk recently decided to face kickboxing legend Rico Verhoeven and faced a scare as he rallied to a late stoppage in Egypt.

The decision to take the fight was met with controversy with WBC mandatory challenger Kabayel forced to wait for his shot at the titles.

But immediately after the clash, Turki Alalshikh and the governing body both declared that it would be Kabayel next, despite interest from Verhoeven in a rematch.

Promoter Frank Warren among others insists the fight must happen next or Usyk must vacate his title.

In a fresh update on talkSPORT, Kabayel has candidly admitted he is fearing the worst and may not get the chance to take on the Ukrainian.

He said: “To be honest I think Oleksandr Usyk will vacate.

“I think Frank is talking about with Usyk’s team, and we will wait one week.

“I think we have one week to see if Usyk says anything, after that we will see what happen.

“But my opinion is that Usyk will not want to make the fight for me. I want to fight with Usyk.”

On the potential event, he added: “So many people in Germany re waiting for this fight.

“This is the biggest fight we can make right now for boxing. We can sell out a stadium.”

Kabayel – I can beat Usyk

For many people inside the boxing community, Kabayel represents the biggest chance at beating ‘The Cat.

The heavy-punching German has yet to be beaten in his 27-fight career and has wiped out some heavyweight leading brass including Frank Sanchez and Zhilei Zhang.

Throughout he has maintained focus on Usyk in recent months and is adamant he is the man to topple the pound-for-pound king.

And after Usyk failed to impress in what came close to an upset defeat against Verhoeven, Kabayel is filled with more confidence more than ever.

He continued: “I think I will pressure him and Usyk hates it to the body.

“When Usyk was hit to the body by Rico, he hated it.

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“So I will have a gameplan, I think the people will now give me the respect and I know I can beat Usyk.”