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Away days: Will Agit Kabayel homecoming open the door for super-bouts beyond usual borders?
Ask somebody why they love the sport they do, and you're bound to find yourself inundated with a veritable smorgasbord of answers from which you can pick and choose.
It's the thrill of your team scoring that last-gasp penalty. It's the joy and release as that star figure hits gold. It's the agony and the ecstasy that breathes life into meaning.
But more often than not, for so many, it's the communal aspect. It's the shared emotional release, the highs and lows of a roller-coaster passion, united under one belief.
Last Saturday, as 2026 clocked its first full weekend amid freezing temperatures across the European continent, that unified experience was on full display in Germany.
Agit Kabayel is one of the biggest boxers to emerge from the nation this century, born and raised in North Rhine-Westphalia, and made in the industrial belt's hard gyms.
Yet, like so many other fighters who hail from beyond the sport's traditional pro heartlands of the United States and United Kingdom, he has been forced to travel for glory.
His bout against Damian Knyba was his first on home soil since March 2023, having spent the interim fighting in Saudi Arabia, bidding to move up the pecking order.
Such exposure under the bright lights of Riyadh Season has helped make his name as one of the heavyweight division's most devastating operators, brutal and ruthless.
Now though, his rewards look like they might finally come - and the success of a long-awaited homecoming might help open the door for a new frontier heading forward.
A city built for fighters to thrive
Oberhausen's Rudolf-Weber Arena has seen its share of big nights down the years. Effectively equidistant to Dortmund and Dussledorf, it is a popular concert destination.
Prince held a major gig there in 2002. Pink sold the venue out five times between 2004 and 2013. Oasis closed the European leg of the Be Here Now era here in 1997 too.
Yet for all the rock-and-roll royalty that was walked through its doors, the city has never really had a sporting star to call its own, a team to barrack for on their own turf.
Kabayel is not from Oberhausen himself either, hailing from Leverkusen, the best part of fifty miles down the Autobahn 3, practically almost all the way to Cologne itself.
In selecting this destination however for his first fight in Germany for the better part of three years, the star tapped into a city and culture with a proud combat heritage.
MMA and professional wrestling has made a regular home on their swings towards the Rhine, working their way up the Emscher to find an audience fond of hard graft.
For years, they have come out for grapples and pinfalls, kicks and chokeslams. It did not seem too much of a gamble to suggest they'd come out for some big punches.
But the atmosphere as Kabayel made his way to the ring was nothing short of electrifying; a cacaphonous malestrom, uncut Sturm und Drang straight from the source.
Boxing is a global sport, a pursuit that has been honoured at some level virtually everywhere. Yet here, for one night, it felt as if this was the cradle of the discipline itself.
An opportunity to break further barriers
The dust will settle in days and weeks. Irrespective of the sensational portrait conjured by Saturday, the cold hard fact remains that Kabayel is still WBC interim champion.
This first defence of the title he tore from Zhilei Zhang last year further confirms his place as the governing body's chief prizefighter, a de-facto challenger to Oleksandr Usyk.
The Ukrainian, currently plotting a bout with Deontay Wilder for his latest defence, is the logical next step for the German, the man he has already said that he wants to face.
It is a difficult balance to strike. Usyk, a prizefighter with limited time left in the sport, is chasing the biggest fish who remain in the pond that he has not already conquered.
Had Joseph Parker kept his WBO interim crown against Fabio Wardley, the New Zealander would have been in his sights. Instead, he vacated rather than face the Briton.
The presence of a secondary belt that should be a nominal fastpass in the heavyweight queue will not get Kabayel his chance. But his homecoming crowd might do so too.
In the past ten years, just one glamour-division title fight has taken place outside the United Kingdom, the United States or Saudi Arabia - Usyk's first bout with Daniel Dubois.
The Ukrainian has a devoted following of his own on the continent, a multinational collective that recalls the support enjoyed by the Klitschko brothers at their own peaks.
Kabayel is building his own coalition of support. Victory against Knyba has confirmed him as a domestic superstar within the sport. International glory is only a matter of time.
If his greatest wish can come true - a title fight with Usyk - this year, then it might just be the bout to break down some barriers and bring those biggest nights back to Europe.
Strap yourselves in - it could be one hell of a ride.
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