Agit Kabayel takes over the WBC heavyweight summit after Usyk vacates his belts
Agit Kabayel is the new WBC world heavyweight champion after Oleksandr Usyk vacated the belt and thereby opened a major reshuffle at the top of boxing’s most prestigious division. According to reports by specialized boxing media and confirmation relayed by WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán, the former interim champion Kabayel was elevated to full champion status after the decision of the WBC Board of Governors. Thus, the outcome that had been anticipated for months received its administrative epilogue: the fight between Usyk and Kabayel, which the WBC had marked as the mandatory next step, will not take place within the current championship cycle. For the undefeated German heavyweight, this is the greatest moment of his career, but also the beginning of significantly different pressure, because the interim title is now replaced by the obligation to defend the full belt against the best challengers.
Usyk vacated the belt, but has not officially ended his career
Oleksandr Usyk announced on Friday, 26 June 2026, that he was vacating the belts he still held at heavyweight, including the WBC, WBA and IBF titles, according to specialized media that reported his message on social networks. The Ukrainian emphasized that he is not immediately retiring from boxing, but wants to enter the final phase of his career on his own terms. According to his post reported by MMA Fighting, Usyk said that he wants to make the belts available to the boxers next in line and that one more “last dance” awaits him. The opponent for that farewell appearance has not been officially confirmed, and according to the available information it remains open whether it will be the biggest possible commercial fight, a sporting challenge or a symbolic end to the career of one of the most successful fighters of the modern era.
Usyk’s decision has consequences that go beyond the WBC. By vacating the WBA, IBF and WBC belts, a process was launched in which each organization must arrange its own summit, determine champions, mandatory challengers and possible elimination fights. In the WBC’s case, the path was clearest because Kabayel already had the status of interim champion and mandatory challenger. In March 2026, in its official divisional status review, the WBC listed Usyk as the current champion, Kabayel as interim champion and determined that the winner of Usyk’s voluntary defense against Rico Verhoeven must next box precisely against Kabayel. When Usyk decided to vacate the belt instead of entering that match, the organization had a ready mechanism for transferring the status to the first man in line.
Why Kabayel was first in line
Kabayel’s path to the full WBC title was not created only at the table, but through a series of victories that turned him into one of the most dangerous heavyweights outside the circle of former and current unified champions. The WBC announced that on 22 February 2025 in Riyadh, Kabayel won the interim heavyweight title by knockout against Zhilei Zhang in the sixth round. In the same announcement, the WBC stated that after that triumph Kabayel had a record of 26-0 with 18 knockouts, while Zhang fell to 27-3-1. The manner of victory was especially important: Kabayel, according to the WBC’s description, constantly attacked the Chinese heavyweight’s body, survived a knockdown in the fifth round and finished the fight with punches that left Zhang without an answer.
After the victory over Zhang, Kabayel confirmed his interim champion status at the beginning of 2026 in a fight against Polish heavyweight Damian Knyba. According to Fightmag’s report, on 10 January 2026 at the Rudolf Weber-Arena in Oberhausen, Kabayel won by technical knockout in the third round and thereby defended the WBC interim belt for the first time. That victory raised his professional record to 27-0 with 19 knockouts and handed Knyba the first defeat of his career. Although some reports after the match discussed whether the stoppage came too early, the result remained recorded as Kabayel’s victory and as key proof that his status as mandatory challenger was not merely a formality.
In the WBC context, the decisive fact was that Kabayel did not have to wait for a new elimination tournament. According to Sky Sports, WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán said clearly at the beginning of June that Usyk must box against Kabayel or risk losing the belt. Sky Sports relayed Sulaimán’s claim that the WBC’s decision was “very clear”: the organization accepted Usyk’s voluntary defense against Verhoeven, but after it comes the mandatory fight against the interim champion. In such a framework, Usyk’s exit from the system did not open the question of who the first candidate was, but activated the already existing order.
A historical dimension for Germany and the Kurdish community
Kabayel’s elevation to full WBC champion status has a strong symbolic dimension in Germany, where his success is presented as the return of a heavyweight belt after almost a century of historical waiting. Germany’s Sport1 reported that the WBC, through president Mauricio Sulaimán, officially confirmed Kabayel as the new world champion on Saturday, 27 June 2026. The same source relayed Kabayel’s post in which he wrote that from that day he was the WBC heavyweight champion, the first Kurdish world heavyweight champion and the first German world heavyweight champion in “almost 100 years”. In the German media space, the comparison is linked to Max Schmeling, the historical heavyweight figure from the first half of the 20th century.
That comparison should be read precisely. Schmeling’s era belonged to a different boxing order, before the modern system of major world organizations that today consists of the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO. Therefore Kabayel is not the “successor” to the same administrative belt from Schmeling’s period, but the historical emphasis refers to the fact that a boxer from Germany is again at the top of the world heavyweight division in one of the most important organizations. For a global audience, that difference matters because contemporary professional boxing functions through several parallel titles, interim belts, mandatory challengers and decisions by organizational boards. Precisely because of that, Kabayel’s title has double weight: sportingly it is the result of his undefeated run, and institutionally it is the consequence of the WBC order after Usyk’s withdrawal from the mandatory defense.
From interim champion to the man everyone wants to challenge
Interim champion status in boxing is often complex and sometimes confusing for the wider public. It can indicate a fighter who is first in line while the full champion is injured, occupied with a voluntary defense or involved in negotiations for bigger fights. In Kabayel’s case, that status was directly connected to the WBC’s decision to allow Usyk a voluntary defense, but on the condition that he then face the mandatory challenger. When Usyk decided to give up the belt, Kabayel did not have to prove again his right to an opportunity because the WBC had already previously marked him as the boxer to whom the next title match belonged. That is why his proclamation as full champion fits into the usual logic of organizational rules, although part of the public will always give greater sporting weight to winning a belt in the ring than to administrative elevation.
For Kabayel himself, that does not reduce the responsibility that now comes. As interim champion, he could publicly call for Usyk and at the same time build the status of a dangerous challenger who had nothing to lose. As full WBC champion, he must defend the belt, negotiate with challengers and prove that his rise is not only the consequence of Usyk’s decision but also of his own quality. His style, which in major victories was based on pressure, body work and the ability to break physically bigger opponents, will now be analyzed from the perspective of future attackers of the green belt. In the heavyweight division, such a change of status often also changes the business side of a career, because the champion becomes the center of negotiations, not only a candidate waiting for a call.
Usyk’s departure changes the entire heavyweight map
Usyk has been the central figure of the heavyweight division in recent years because, after success in the cruiserweight division, he defeated the biggest names in modern heavyweight boxing and took several belts. According to MMA Fighting, his heavyweight run includes victories over Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury and Daniel Dubois, and the decision to vacate the belts means that the division now returns to a period of fragmented titles. For promoters, television companies and organizations, this opens space for new big fights, but for fans and analysts it also creates the question of who will be recognized as the strongest heavyweight in the world. Kabayel now has one of the most important pieces of that mosaic, but not automatically the status of undisputed ruler of the division.
The WBC belt traditionally carries great market value, and in the heavyweight division it is especially connected with global names and major fights. According to ProBoxing-Fans, Sulaimán confirmed that Kabayel became WBC champion after a vote by the Board of Governors, which means that the WBC wants quickly to close the gap created by Usyk’s decision. But it remains open who will be the first challenger of the new champion and whether the organization will immediately insist on a mandatory defense or allow a transitional period for arranging a major fight. Some media mention leading challengers and former champions as possible factors in the new order, but the official opponent for Kabayel’s first defense was not confirmed at the time of publication.
Kabayel now must confirm the title in the ring
The biggest question after Kabayel’s proclamation is not only who the new WBC champion is, but how that title will be confirmed in front of the public. In professional boxing, the administrative elevation of an interim champion is a common way of resolving a vacant belt, but a fighter’s historical status is most often cemented only through defenses against the strongest available opponents. Kabayel has a good sporting foundation in that sense: he is undefeated, has beaten Zhang, Makhmudov, Sanchez and Knyba, and in his recent appearances he has shown that he can break boxers who entered matches with the reputation of physically strong and dangerous heavyweights. Still, the transition from the role of hunter to the role of hunted is the toughest test of every championship career.
Kabayel’s team now enters a phase in which sporting priorities will have to be aligned with market interests. A fight in Germany could have strong symbolism and commercial potential, especially after the atmosphere in Oberhausen in January 2026, but the WBC belt naturally attracts global options. In such a schedule, the new champion must balance between the desire to present the title in front of the audience that has followed him for a long time and the obligation to face the most dangerous names that the organization puts before him. His rise therefore does not close the story of the WBC summit, but opens it at a moment when Usyk exits the system of mandatory defenses and leaves space for a new generation.
For Usyk, the decision to vacate the belts means that he can choose the final act of his career without the pressure of multiple organizations and mandatory challengers. For Kabayel, the same decision means that the dream he spoke about after victories over Zhang and Knyba arrived earlier than through a direct match with the Ukrainian, but also that every next fight will be measured as a defense of a world title. The WBC has thereby gained a new champion, the heavyweight division a new hierarchy, and Kabayel the opportunity to turn a historical moment into a longer-lasting reign.
Sources:
- World Boxing Council – official review of divisional status from March 2026, including Usyk as champion, Kabayel as interim champion and the mandatory fight after Usyk’s voluntary defense (link)
- World Boxing Council – official announcement of Kabayel winning the interim WBC title against Zhilei Zhang in Riyadh (link)
- Sky Sports – report on the WBC order that Usyk must box against Agit Kabayel or risk losing the belt (link)
- MMA Fighting – report on Usyk’s decision to vacate the WBA, IBF and WBC titles and his message that he is not yet ending his career (link)
- ProBoxing-Fans – report on Mauricio Sulaimán’s confirmation that Kabayel became WBC world champion after the decision of the Board of Governors (link)
- Sport1 – German report on Kabayel’s proclamation as WBC champion and the historical context of the comparison with Max Schmeling (link)
- Fightmag – report on Kabayel’s technical knockout victory against Damian Knyba in Oberhausen and defense of the interim WBC title (link)
- Queensberry Promotions – Agit Kabayel profile with professional record, biographical data and overview of key heavyweight victories (link)