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How an argument nearly split leading heavyweight contender and his coach
When Agit Kabayel talks about his coach Şükrü Aksu, his appreciation knows almost no bounds.
The pair have formed a formidable partnership which has taken Kabayel to the brink of a world title shot and he bids to take another step closer to world honours on Saturday.
The unbeaten Kabayel defends his WBC interim belt against Damian Knyba at the Rudolf Weber-Arena in Oberhausen, live on DAZN, and another victory would put further pressure on the 'full champion', Oleksandr Usyk, to fight the German challenger.
“Şükrü has taken on a second father role in my life. I really spend a lot of time with him,” Kabayel said in an interview with DAZN News.
“If I had to describe him – he is 100 percent loyal and always has an open ear. No matter what kind of problems you have, you can go to him.
“He’s a very, very honest person, he doesn’t mince words, and in that moment you just have to swallow it. But he’s always there, no matter what time it is. I could call him at 3am and he would answer, I know that.”
Communication in the corner during the breaks between rounds can often provide the decisive information to significantly change the course of a fight and Kabayel always values that input.
He added: “I already know how to deal with it. But the people who see it for the first time are usually really surprised,”
“They only understand how well we harmonize and how perfectly it fits together when they actually observe it. What happens in the corner and the instructions he gives me - it harmonizes perfectly.”
The two have been working together for many years. Kabayel first met his coach when he was still a teenager. Their meeting – like so many things in life – also involved a certain element of chance.
Aksu recalls: “I saw him back then in Aachen, where they had a kickboxing fight. I was there with my friends, they wanted to take me along. I said 'okay, I’ll come with you'. And that entire evening, Agit was the only one who stood out to me.”
So, he took young Agit under his wing, with all the ups and downs that came at the beginning.
“There are days when you really don’t feel like training and don’t want to come. Back then, he wasn’t yet as aware as I was. But on the very first day, I already said this could become something,” Aksu explains.
Şükrü Aksu praises Kabayel
Aksu says he immediately saw something in Kabayel that other former protégés had lacked.
“I’ve trained many really good people who had a lot of talent and were right at the top, but they didn’t make the breakthrough because they lacked discipline and ambition,” he added.
“This kid has that. He’s a worker. Agit works a lot on himself.”
Together, they wrote a unique success story that has taken Kabayel all the way to the top end of the heavyweight division.
Kabayel has now fought 26 professional bouts and has won all 26. Most recently, he defeated Frank Sanchez and Zhilei Zhang - two big players in the weight class.
Yet at one point, the story nearly took a very different turn. For a time, Aksu had ended the collaboration with Kabayel; a dispute temporarily - and almost permanently - drove the duo apart.
“We had a disagreement, and I thought I could do everything better. I thought I was the coolest, the best, the strongest. And then he kicked me out of training,” Kabayel recalls.
He was too stubborn to apologise and wanted to continue on his own. “But then I stopped making progress,” he explains.
Kabayel’s father brought the two back together
Aksu also remembers that phase and provides further details. “He had an offer from Evander Holyfield’s trainer in America. They immediately sent a contract. It was an overreaction on both sides,” the coach said.
But to mend the relationship, it took a third person - Kabayel’s father.
“I talked to my father and told him I had messed up. My father then saw how much it was weighing on me. He went to Şükrü and said 'give the kid another chance',” Kabayel recounts.
Aksu relented but he made sure his protégé felt that he had done something wrong.
Kabayel explained: “After that, the first three months were absolutely terrible, because Şükrü really put me through the fire and gave me the cold shoulder.
“I had to prove myself again, had to be on time for training, I was basically always the first to arrive and the last to leave.”
Today, the two are inseparable – at least most of the time. Aksu said: “I can do whatever I want with him. But that’s because Agit functions.
“I’ve had really good fighters, really very good ones, who were also world-class. But they didn’t function,”
Aksu knows Kabayel has matured and disagreements are now handled differently.
“Discussion is always there, and that’s a good thing because it helps,” Aksu makes clear.
“He often slows me down when I want to train hard. I also often slow him down and tell him what he shouldn’t do – and that works out just fine.”
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 on Saturday, January 10, exclusively on DAZN Watch with a subscription, monthly and annual options available.
