Despite many dissatisfiers, Kabael knocked out Knyba

On January 10 in Oberhausen, Germany, interim WBC heavyweight champion 33-year-old German Agit Kabael (27-0, 19 KOs) and 29-year-old Pole Damian Knyba (17-1, 11 KOs) fought. The conflict ended quickly, just as the thousands of fans who watched the show expected and hoped.

On the other hand, the stop caused a lot of criticism from fans of Kabael’s opponent. And you can understand why.

Agit Kabael was considered a big favorite. He fully confirmed his condition

The meeting against Damian Knyba immediately raised questions. It’s strange to switch to a little-known opponent after a series of Makhmudov, Sanchez and Zhilei.

This decision was influenced by other actions of the Germans. For example, inactivity in the ring. He hasn’t gone out to fight since the winter of 2025, when he quickly defeated Zhang Zhilei despite being knocked down. And also conversations about his meeting against Oleksandr Usyk. While the Ukrainian defeated Daniel Dubois and became the absolute champion 3 times, Kabael decided to meet with the little-known Pole.

Few people have noted Knyba’s skills, but his ability to box with the punch is really good. Few people hoped for the competition, as they had not seen Damyan in serious clashes. This is because Knyba was struggling with the powerful middle peasants, but did not grow in opposition at all. Think about it: Joy immediately moved from Dawejko to Agit Kabael!

Thousands of fans in Germany were waiting for a show from their athletes. They expected Kabael to win ahead of schedule. The Germans (and not only them) were chanting his name every time their boxer appeared on the screen. And when he gets in the ring. Then when he hits his opponent with blows.

The beginning of the meeting was interesting. Kabael missed a lot. Pole’s uppercuts flew from below. Apparently Agit also suffered a left blow to his face, as there was a scar under his right eye. Most likely the Germans even lost the 1st round. He didn’t seem helpless, but he had enough problems.

It is unclear what Pole had with him when he entered the ring dressed as a Polish warrior. He actually got knocked out in the 2nd round. He tried to move and shrug, but a few blows from his opponent seemed to frighten him. Damyan became more careful, threw less punches and therefore landed fewer strikes.

It was always impossible to run, the Ring has its limits and you can’t run away from them any further. How can you win if you don’t do the one thing that leads to results? You don’t attack.

In the 3rd round Kabael finally started to go down completely. I hit my opponent a lot and they were really hard blows. It’s not the kind that will instantly knock you out. However, they caused great inconvenience to Knyba.

At one point the referee decided to suspend Damyan. Yes, Kutup missed shots, no one will argue here. And it took more than a few seconds. And overall, nothing gave any indication that Knyba would win the fight. It was hard for him, he was worried about blows and stopped hitting whatever and how he needed.

However, the referee still decided to play the match too early. As soon as the pole was moved aside, Knieba was lifted. Although he obviously came back to consciousness pretty quickly.

I repeat, this does not mean that victory was taken away from the Poles. This means the third person in the ring may try to give him a chance. But I decided that was enough.

What happens now?

For Knyba, the coup is not so much about the defeat as it is about how the defeat happened. An early defeat early in the match against a top opponent would set him back greatly. He has no success anymore, so everyone will remember Damyan for a long time as the one who was eliminated by Kabael in the 3rd round.

Agit wants to fight for the championship. Yes, he owns the belt, but only temporarily. In fact, he can only be considered a partial champion. Kabael wants to fight for the belt and against big names. Options included Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois. Of course, Alexander Usik, but it is unlikely to meet him now.

The Ukrainian player said he wanted to fight Deontay Wilder and chose his opponent himself. Negotiations appear to be ongoing and the WBC has agreed to allow Usyk to defend his title voluntarily. This puts Agit at a huge disadvantage.

As for Wardley and Dubois, there are already different risks and different opportunities to get something from the results of the confrontation. Daniel and his team say that although they were defeated by knockout in the previous encounter, the comeback will be right after the best opponent. They also prefer to meet Wardley.

There is great demand for Fabio. Everyone saw that he could be beaten: Huni was close, and Parker put up a good fight until he got a headbutt. So anyone can have a chance, but the probability of elimination here is very high.

But from the fight against Dubois, Kabael will receive a fee, if he wins, he will be respected – that’s all. And after beating Wardley, he’ll have the full championship title as well – everything he ever wanted.

But I don’t really believe in these two fights anymore. That’s because Kabael put everything in the box at the start of the year and Wardley and Dubois don’t have an opponent yet. This means time for negotiation plus a desire to return to the ring sooner – they may not agree on this.

On the other hand, we may see Agit back in the ring soon due to his quick win. Maybe this time he will fight for the cup he has been waiting for.