Agit Kabayel will defend his WBC heavyweight world title for the first time when he faces the undefeated Albanian star Nelson Hysa on Saturday 28 November at the 60,000-capacity Merkur Spiel Arena in Düsseldorf, live on DAZN.
Düsseldorf is close to the home town of the undefeated champion Kabayel in Bochum, who made a successful return to his home country in January when he defeated the previously undefeated Damian Knyba in the third round in front of a sold-out Rudolf-Weber-Arena in Oberhausen.
Kabayel, 34, who became WBC interim world champion in early 2025 with his victory over Zhilei Zhang, was elevated to full champion status in June this year following the retirement of unified champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Prior to that, Kabayel’s success story included a series of victories over Arslabek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez before he triumphed over Zhang.
The hard-hitting Albanian Hysa (25-0, 23 KOs) sought out Kabayel (27-0, 19 KOs) with a challenge after stopping Thomas Narmo in the final round of the second round on the undercard of the Hrgovic v Itauma world title fight in London, with the pair having engaged in an increasingly heated social media war ever since.
The 42-year-old defended his WBO Global title and was previously a long-standing holder of the WBO European title.
Fittingly, the world title bout for the hugely popular Hysa falls on Albanian Independence Day, and like Kabayel, he is sure to enjoy strong support at the stadium.
Advance booking is now open online, with sales via the Queensberry ticket office starting on Friday 2 October at 14:00 CEST. General sale follows on Tuesday 5 October at 14:00 CEST. (Source: Queensberry Promotion)
