Anthony Joshua Gives Fortunes Predictions about Zhilei Zhang vs Agit Kabayel Fight After Sharing The Ring With Both

Anthony Joshua has cast his mind over Zhilei Zhang’s fight with Agit Kabayel knowing that facing the winner is a real possibility.

Joshua remains a big deal in the heavyweight division and he has often been called out by Zhang. The stars have never aligned for them to fight in the pro ranks, although the Brit beat the Chinese southpaw at the London 2012 Olympics

‘AJ’ is currently on the sidelines after being knocked out by Daniel Dubois in September last year, thereby failing so far in his mission to become a three-time world champion.

Zhang’s fortunes have been different in the last couple of years. He has twice stopped Brit Joe Joyce and also knocked out American puncher Deontay Wilder to bounce back from a points loss to Joseph Parker. He now goes into this fight with Kabayel for the WBC Interim Heavyweight title.

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Kabayel – who has sparred many rounds with Joshua – is an impressive unbeaten heavyweight, who stopped Frank Sanchez and Arslanbek Makhmudov in his two most recent bouts.

Speaking to Turki Alalshikh, Joshua revealed who he thought would win and went with ‘Big Bang’ Zhang.

The winner of this fight on February 22 in Saudi Arabia will have a fine array of options including challenging Oleksandr Usyk, the holder of the full WBC title, but also that big money fight with Joshua, who is still rated number 6 with the WBC despite never having held its belt.

Promoter Eddie Hearn has listed either Zhang or Kabayel, depending on their fortunes this weekend, as potential opponents for his charge, that is if he can’t land a title shot against the winner of Dubois vs Parker further up the card

Zhilei Zhang to fight Agit Kabayel for Interim title, with Anthony Joshua eligible to box the winner

Zhilei Zhang will fight Agit Kabayel for the WBC Interim title, and Anthony Joshua “absolutely” can box the winner; Mauricio Sulaiman says the WBC wants to support the best fights in the sport being made and the Oleksandr Usyk-Tyson Fury winner won’t have an immediate mandatory challenger

The WBC will sanction Zhilei Zhang versus Agit Kabayel for an Interim heavyweight title, and Anthony Joshua would be eligible to fight the winner for the belt.

The WBC’s full world heavyweight title is one of the three belts, along with the WBA and WBO championships, that Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury will fight for when they rematch on December 21

Zhang has already held the WBO Interim heavyweight title, which he lost to New Zealand’s Joseph Parker. But Zhang bounced back from that to defeat former WBC world champion Deontay Wilder in June.

Kabayel is an impressive unbeaten heavyweight, who stopped Frank Sanchez and Arslanbek Makhmudov in his two most recent bouts.

“The WBC has received a formal request to sanction such fight for the Interim title and the WBC will accept to sanction it,” the body’s president, Mauricio Sulaiman told Sky Sports.

“Why? Because we have done everything possible for the past several years to reach the ultimate, great fights in each weight category, especially in the heavyweights.

“All this time we have been perfectly clear and transparent that the WBC will not impose any mandatory that goes against having the ultimate undisputed champion because they’re fighting the best available.

“There’s no better fight than Usyk-Fury. So with that fighting happening, and then the possibilities for the future, we have accepted the No 2 and the No 3 to fight for the Interim title.

“Keep them active and keep the division having the best fights possible.”

Usyk beat Fury in May to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. He had to vacate the IBF title to pursue his December 21 rematch with Fury, leaving Britain’s Daniel Dubois to pick up that vacant belt.

Sulaiman said: “For the winner of December 21 there’s many options. Why should anyone get in the way of a third fight, or the fight again for undisputed [against Dubois] or any high-level event while we can accommodate the champion, [and have a] fight for an Interim title where the winner is going to be a high-level sensational possibility?

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“So we’re all for having undisputed champions.”

The Zhang-Kabayel winner won’t just be in the frame to, eventually, challenge the holder of the full WBC heavyweight championship. That Interim title could also offer Anthony Joshua a route back to world level.

Joshua, a former unified champion, was knocked out in September when he fought Dubois for the IBF belt.

But he is still rated at No 6 by the WBC and would be eligible to challenge the Zhang-Kabayel winner for the WBC Interim title.

“Absolutely,” Sulaiman said. “That’s an opening of possibilities for more fights to continue to take place.”