Unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion Agit Kabayel defends against unbeaten Nelson Hysa on Nov. 28 at Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf, on DAZN pay-per-view.
What we know
- The fight is a WBC heavyweight title defense for Kabayel, not a unification bout.
- Queensberry and DAZN officially confirmed the fight on Oct. 1; DAZN is advertising it as a pay-per-view.
- Kabayel was elevated from interim to full WBC champion in June after the title became vacant.
Reported, not confirmed
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Queensberry reported on Oct. 6 that more than 30,000 tickets were sold in presale; this is not a final attendance figure.
MiddleEasy
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Frank Warren earlier said Hysa had withdrawn from negotiations before the fight was confirmed.
MiddleEasy
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Wladimir Klitschko fought three world-title bouts at the Dusseldorf stadium, according to DAZN analyst Bernd Bonte.
MiddleEasy
Two unbeaten heavyweights meet in a football stadium, and only one keeps a perfect record. Kabayel, the WBC champion, faces Nelson Hysa at Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf, a fight that Hysa's side had to fight to get back into after talks fell apart.
The path to the booking was bumpy. Promoter Frank Warren earlier said Hysa had withdrawn from negotiations. The confirmation puts Hysa back as the challenger, not a replacement, which settles the main question over Kabayel's next fight.
Kabayel, a 34-year-old from Bochum, arrives as a full champion only recently. He won the interim belt by knocking out Zhilei Zhang in round six on Feb. 22, 2025, then stopped Damian Knyba in round three in January 2026. The WBC elevated him in June after the title became vacant. That Knyba fight was at Oberhausen's Rudolf Weber Arena, so this is a step up in scale. Queensberry also points to his earlier wins over Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez.
Hysa has built his case regionally. The WBC lists him with the CISBB title from Nov. 18, 2023, and he held WBO European and WBO Global belts. His latest win was a second-round stoppage of Thomas Narmo on the London card headlined by Filip Hrgovic and Moses Itauma. The WBC lists the records as 27-0 with 19 knockouts for Kabayel and 25-0 with 23 for Hysa, so Hysa brings the higher knockout rate.
Hysa has predicted a knockout and says he wants to be Albania's first heavyweight world champion. Kabayel says he will take one opponent at a time, with unification as his longer-term aim. This is a defense, not a unification. The date falls on Albanian Independence Day.
Watch the undercard, which Hysa's manager Lasse Kruger says will give German prospects exposure, and further ticket updates from Queensberry after the 30,000 presale figure.
The path to the booking was bumpy. Promoter Frank Warren earlier said Hysa had withdrawn from negotiations. The confirmation puts Hysa back as the challenger, not a replacement, which settles the main question over Kabayel's next fight.
Kabayel, a 34-year-old from Bochum, arrives as a full champion only recently. He won the interim belt by knocking out Zhilei Zhang in round six on Feb. 22, 2025, then stopped Damian Knyba in round three in January 2026. The WBC elevated him in June after the title became vacant. That Knyba fight was at Oberhausen's Rudolf Weber Arena, so this is a step up in scale. Queensberry also points to his earlier wins over Arslanbek Makhmudov and Frank Sanchez.
Hysa has built his case regionally. The WBC lists him with the CISBB title from Nov. 18, 2023, and he held WBO European and WBO Global belts. His latest win was a second-round stoppage of Thomas Narmo on the London card headlined by Filip Hrgovic and Moses Itauma. The WBC lists the records as 27-0 with 19 knockouts for Kabayel and 25-0 with 23 for Hysa, so Hysa brings the higher knockout rate.
Hysa has predicted a knockout and says he wants to be Albania's first heavyweight world champion. Kabayel says he will take one opponent at a time, with unification as his longer-term aim. This is a defense, not a unification. The date falls on Albanian Independence Day.
Watch the undercard, which Hysa's manager Lasse Kruger says will give German prospects exposure, and further ticket updates from Queensberry after the 30,000 presale figure.
- Summary
- Unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion Agit Kabayel defends against unbeaten Nelson Hysa on Nov. 28 at Merkur Spiel-Arena in Dusseldorf, on DAZN pay-per-view.
- Key points (one per line)
- Agit Kabayel defends his WBC heavyweight title against Nelson Hysa on Nov. 28 in Dusseldorf
Queensberry and DAZN confirmed the fight on Oct. 1; DAZN is advertising it as pay-per-view
More than 30,000 tickets were sold in presale, per Queensberry on Oct. 6
- Also reported by (Name | URL per line)
- MiddleEasy | https://middleeasy.com/boxing/agit-kabayel-nelson-hysa-november28-dusseldorf-wbc-title/
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Fighters in this story
Agit Kabayel
Thomas NarmoSources
Summarized with AI from the sources above. Read the originals for the full story.
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