Agit Kabayel picked himself up off the canvas to stop Zhilei Zhang with a sickening body shot.
Zhang got off to a fast start, imposing himself early with a series of blistering combinations that snapped back Kabayel’s head.
GETTY/DAZNKabayel proved too much for Zhang[/caption]
Undeterred by the Chinese puncher’s spiteful shots, Kabayel went about disrupting Zhang’s tempo in the second and third stanzas by investing heavily in the body.
By the fourth round, his work began to pay dividends as Zhang started to slow down.
Gulping for air between punches, Zhang looked to be in trouble as Kabayel poured on the pressure, yet the 41-year-old picked out a peach of a left hand that sat his adversary down on the canvas in the fifth.
The German shook off the shot well and saw out the round before rebounding in the sixth to stop Zhang with a sickening body shot.
Kabayel’s sweeping blow to the liver sunk Zhang to his knees and left him gasping for air as the referee counted him out.
The victory improved Kabayel’s record to 26-0 and earned him the WBC ‘interim’ heavyweight title, while Zhang fell to 27-3-1.
Kabayel is now the No.1 ranked contender for WBC, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk with the former organisation.
The WBO are next up in the sanctioning body rotation system, although Kabayel could be ordered to face the full champion thereafter.
It marks a miraculous turnaround for Kabayel, who saw his career stagnate during his long reign as European heavyweight champion in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
The German is one of the fighters that has benefitted most from Saudi investment in boxing.
For several years he saw high-profile match-ups pass him by but under the Riyadh Season banner he has been thrust into the limelight.
Back-to-back destructive stoppage victories over Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez won him the favour of Saudi boxing chief Turki Alalshikh and he is now well on his way to challenging for a world title.
Prior to their fight, Zhang was ranked No.4 by the Ring Magazine in boxing’s glamour division while Kabayel was placed one position below.
Kabayel is expected to leap above Zhang when the rankings are updated in a week or so and is up at the top with good company.
Joseph Parker is placed No.3, IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois is No.2, the seemingly retired Tyson Fury is No.1 while Usyk is the lineal heavyweight king.
