The German boxer Agit Kabayel has won the European heavyweight title for the second time in his hometown of Bochum.
After a brief but intense exchange of blows, the 30-year-old defeated previously undefeated Croatian Agron Smakici by technical knockout. in the third of twelve scheduled rounds. In doing so, he secured the award from the European continental association EBU on Saturday in the RuhrCongress Hall and increased the prospects of a future World Championship title fight.
The 107-kilogram Kabayel started the fight a little nervously. He got in better in the second lap, but suffered a flurry of punches in the second lap that sent him briefly onto the ropes. The local hero, who was badly hit in the right eye, came back impressively in the third round under the loud “Agit” shouts and put the Croatian under increasing pressure until the 110-kilogram opponent lost.
The “Ruhrpott boy” who grew up in Bochum already held the EBU European title between 2017 and 2019. Before the fight, Kabayel was already in the top 13 of the big boys in the world rankings of the three boxing associations IBF (8th), WBO (11th) and WBA (13th).
The fight was also marked by the earthquake disaster in Turkey, as Kabayel had to accept the loss of two relatives among the more than 50,000 dead. The income from fan shirts sold will benefit people in the earthquake region.
