Frank Sanchez (24-0, 17 KOs) and Agit Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs) will meet in a WBC heavyweight title eliminator this Saturday night on May 18th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Whoever emerges the winner of the Sanchez vs. Kabayel fight will be mandatory for WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. After Saturday night, that could be Oleksandr Usyk if he’s victorious.
Best Fight on Saturday’s Card?
The unbeaten Eddy Reynoso-trained Sanchez and Kabayel are fighting on the undercard of Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk on DAZN PPV. Sanchez-Kabayel is one of the better fights on the card, which is uneven and mostly features mismatches involving A-side guys.
This is a tough fight for experts to pick from, as both guys are unbeaten at near the same age and have almost identical records.
The Cuban-born Sanchez is the better boxer of the two and can do more things in the ring than Kabayel. However, the power advantage goes to Kabayel, who is an excellent body puncher as we witnessed in his last fight.
Kabayel, 31, is coming off a big fourth-round knockout win over Arslanbek Makhmudov last December in Riyadh. Leading into that fight, many people expected the 6’5″ Makhmudov would be too much for Kabayel, and would walk through him. But Kabayel surprised fans by attacking Makhmudov’s body and from the outset, hurting him repeatedly to finally get a stoppage in the fourth.
Sanchez stopped Junior Fa in the seventh round last December in Riyadh. That fight was impressive for Sanchez because he showed power that boxing fans weren’t aware he had.
Sanchez’s best career win came against Efe Ajagba in 2021. He dominated the big 6’6″ knockout artist, outboxing and dropping him en route to winning a 10-round unanimous decision.
A Long Wait for a Title Shot
The downside of the Sanchez vs. Kabayel fight is that they’ll likely have to wait a long time before the winner of the fight gets a title shot because there’s a rematch clause for the Fury-Usyk fight.
Also, the eventual winner will likely fight Anthony Joshua a couple of times. If those fights take place in succession, we’re probably looking at 2026 before the winner of the Sanchez-Kabayel contest gets a crack at a title.
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