Tyson Fury might have his opponent for Dec. 5.
Frank Warren, the heavyweight titleholder’s co-promoter, told talkSPORT that Fury will face Agit Kabayel if the German signs the contract that was presented to him.
No venue has been selected but the fight is expected to take place in the U.K.
“We’re giving the guy we wanna fight, which is Kabayel, we’re giving him 24 hours now to sign the contract or we’re gonna move on,” Warren said. “He’s undefeated and has a win on his record over Derek Chisora. …
“He [was] the European champion and he’s ranked by the WBC. That’s who’s sitting at the moment on a contract and we’re waiting. … He’s the fight, subject to the contract being signed.”
Kabayel (20-0, 13 KOs) is a 28-year-old former kickboxer who is ranked by three of the four major sanctioning bodies.
The Kurdish-German won the vacant European heavyweight title by easily outpointing Herve Hubeaux in February 2017. He then recorded his most-important victory in defense of his belt, a majority decision over Derek Chisora the following November.
However, Kabayel’s momentum then stalled. He has fought only three times against obscure opponents since the Chisora fight, including a one-sided decision over Evgenios Lazaridis in his most-recent fight, on July 18.
Kabayel would be considerably smaller than the 6-foot-9 Fury. Kabayel is 6-3 and weighed 236.75 pounds for the Lazaridis fight, 36.25 less than Fury weighed for his rematch with Deontay Wilder on Feb. 22.
Among other potential opponents whose names have been mentioned are Oscar Rivas, Efe Ajagba, Carlos Takam, Charles Martin and Michael Hunter.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) stopped Wilder in their rematch to win a version of the title. He had intended to honor a rematch clause and fight Wilder a third time in his next fight. However, when it became clear that the fight would’ve take place this year, he moved on.
Fury has said he intends to fight fellow titleholder Anthony Joshua for the undisputed championship next year.
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