"Just made a MASSIVE statement", "What a finish" - Fans react as Agit Kabayel knocks out Zhilei Zhang to claim WBC interim heavyweight title

Boxing fans were taken aback after witnessing Zhilei Zhang's defeat against Agit Kabayel at The Last Crescendo. The Chinese heavyweight lost his interim WBC title to Kabayel on account of this defeat.

Zhang played the aggressor in the initial moments of the fight, with Kabayel sticking to a counterpunching style. The German heavyweight mixed up his strikes pretty efficiently as he changed levels often to land punches on his rival's body. However, Zhang found more success in the first round with his stiff jabs and strong hooks.

Kabayel held on to his strategy of striking his rival's body at regular intervals accompanied by an occasional jab or hook. However, the 32-year-old went down to the canvas in the fifth round after absorbing a vicious straight left from Zhang. However, he stood back up and continued landing a higher volume of strikes than his opponent. The results of Kabayel's approach kept getting better as the fight progressed.

The newly crowned WBC interim heavyweight champ struck his rival with a vicious body shot at 2:29 of the sixth round knocking him down to the canvas. Despite his best efforts, Zhang failed to beat the referee's count which ended the fight in a TKO victory for Kabayel.

A recent X update from @ringmagazine relayed the news of Kabayel's victory along with announcing him as the new WBC interim heavyweight champion.

Boxing fans flooded the comments section with appreciative comments for Kabayel's outstanding performance. One of them penned:

"Agit Kabayel just made a MASSIVE statement. He’s the real deal!"

Others concurred:

"What a finish! Big Bang [Zhang's nickname] Down!"

"Disgusting body work [by Kabayel], what a performance."

"Agit earned that!!"

Check out some more reactions:

Fan reactions to @ringmagazine's X update. [Screenshots courtesy: @ringmagazine on X]

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Abit Kabayel subjected Zhilei Zhang to the first TKO defeat of his pro-boxing career

Zhilei Zhang boats massive fame in the boxing community on account of his commendable record. 'Big Bang' walked into the fight against Abit Kabayel with a 27-2-1 record where both his defeats came via judges' decisions.

However, Kabayel took away Zhang's pride of never being finished inside the ring with his recent victory. Apart from capturing the Chinese boxer's WBC interim heavyweight championship, Kabayel also subjected Zhang to a TKO defeat, thereby finishing him for the first time in his pro-boxing career.