Tyson Fury backs heavyweight contender to fil Germany's void

There was a time when boxing was one of the most important sports in Germany.

Almost every week, major events featuring well-known fighters were broadcast on public television or on RTL, and German boxers became world champions in several weight classes - some of them holding their titles for years.

Around the turn of this year, hardly anything of that former glory remains. Boxing has become a niche sport.

One man determined to change this is Agit Kabayel. The fighter from Bochum takes on Damian Knyba at at Oberhausen's Rudolf Weber Arena on Saturday, live on DAZN, and he is aiming to become the first heavyweight world champion since Max Schmeling.

With this achievement, he not only wants to make himself immortal but also to save boxing in Germany as a whole.

“The German boxing sport is alive, and we are keeping the flag flying,” Kabayel said in an interview with DAZN.

It is certainly an ambitious undertaking for a single person to try to revive an entire sport. Yet Tyson Fury also believes Kabayel is capable of filling the huge gap that has developed in recent years.

“In Germany, there hasn’t been a big star for a long time," Fury told DAZN.

"If you go back to the early 2000s, there was Klitschko, there was Arthur Abraham, there were many, many great talents. Marco Huck, Nikolai Valuev - and there was Pulev [fighting in Germarny]. Sauerland had all the big fighters in Germany at that time, as did K2.

'A Void Simply Emerged'

After that era, however, everything collapsed.

Fury added: “For a while after the Klitschko era, the whole thing slowly died. The other guys all retired. And then a void simply emerged.

“Now, I think Agit can definitely fill that gap.”

The enormous interest in boxing in Germany was proven by the ticket presale for Kabayel’s fight this weekend. Within just a few days, the arena was sold out and around 13,000 spectators will be there when the German steps into the ring.

Can Kabayel emulate Max Schmeling?

It is over 95 years since Max Schmeling made German boxing history.

With a disqualification victory over Jack Sharkey in New York, Schmeling - who was only 24 years old at the time - won the world heavyweight championship. He was the first German ever to achieve this feat and remains the only one to this day.

Since then, numerous German boxers have tried to follow in his footsteps. Yet even though boxing was almost a national sport in Germany - especially between 1990 and 2015, producing countless world champions in many different weight classes - the heavyweight division continued to elude them.

Karl Mildenberger delivered a strong performance in 1966 but ultimately lost to Muhammad Ali. In 1995, Axel Schulz was defeated in a highly-controversial points decision against George Foreman, and his next opponent Francois Botha was later convicted of doping following another world title fight.

And in 2012, many experts believed that Marco Huck was robbed of the title in his bout with Alexander Povetkin.

Now, however, Agit Kabayel is on the verge of finally becoming Schmeling’s successor.

The 33-year-old is already the WBC interim champion, and a world title fight is no longer far away.

“That’s the goal,” he stated. “We finally need to replace Max Schmeling. We must dissolve him from that position.”

The current WBC world heavyweight champion is Oleksandr Usyk but a chance could soon open up for Kabayel to become champion himself - possibly even without a world title fight.

It is currently unclear when Usyk will defend his WBC title again. Tyson Fury suggested in an interview with DAZN that the Ukrainian might voluntarily relinquish his belt.

Usyk recently did exactly that with the WBO title, after which the organization elevated interim champion Fabio Wardley to regular champion status.

If Usyk were to give up the WBC belt as well and the governing body followed the same procedure, then Kabayel would become the new world champion.

Watch Kabayel vs. Knyba with a DAZN subscription

January starts with a heavyweight bang as Agit Kabayel takes the next steps towards a world title shot as he face Damian Knyba this Saturday, January 10, exclusively on DAZN  Watch with a subscription, monthly and annual options available.

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