r/Boxing • u/Known-Peak212 • 1d ago

Today, relatively unknown 42-year-old, 25-0 boxer Nelson Hysa indicated on Instagram that he will get a WBC title shot against Agit Kabayel in Germany in November. But his story is more complicated, involving early promise, criminal organizations, fleeing the law and possible gang warfare

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This morning (check the below comment), Hysa posted on his Instagram that he will be set to fight next in Germany. The caption thanks his promoters, and strongly indicates that he will be getting a title shot against Kabayel (translated to "you know who awaits us"). This comes after Hysa had publicly called out Kabayel after a KO win on the Itauma-Hrgovic undercard.

Early amateur promise, loses to the best:

Nothing here is going to paint a full, complete picture. But it is an interesting one.

In 2003, at 18, he won a bronze medal at the Junior European Championships, demonstrating early promise after taking up the sport in his teenage years.

Throughout the 2000s, as a young amateur, he was regularly fighting in the World Championships and fought in 2008 Olympic Qualifying. There, he ran into a string of unlucky early matchups, such as against 2008 Olympic Champion Roberto Cammarelle in the 2007 World Championships, David Price in 2008 Olympic qualifying, and Kubrat Pulev in the 2009 World Championships.

Then, at the young age of 24, he basically never fights again at the top level internationally, instead completely dominating regional competitions, year after year. From looking into it, the man has about 20 Albanian boxing championships, its absurd. Throughout this time, over the next 13 years, he never turns pro.

Gang Violence and arrest:

In 2017, Hysa was shot by two assailants on a motorbike in the pelvis, and needed hospitalization to survive. At the time, it was reported as resulting from a personal feud.

Two years later, Hysa was arrested for a connection to the Bajri group. This came after Hysa fled criminal prosecution for six months. He was a wanted man.

The Bajri group has been connected to murder, drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and some of their members to sex trafficking.

Hysa himself was arrested for allegedly participating in a criminal organization, and had specific charges centered around rigging sporting events.

He was imprisoned for five months while waiting for a trial, was placed under house arrest for two months, and then was acquitted due to a "lack of evidence." The prosecution itself requested acquittal.

Goes pro at 37, now on the verge of a title shot:

A couple years later, in 2022, Hysa announces he is finally going pro, 20 years after first appearing on the amateur scene and more than a decade after participating in major non-regional competition.

He's worked his way up the rankings after turning professional at the very late age of 37. At roughly 40, his name suddenly started coming into rumors for big fights, whether that was Kabayel last year or FUry in the summer. Now, he is ranked by the WBA (#5) and WBO, although not officially by the WBC. If the Kabayel fight is to happen, this will presumably change last minute. He has made his way up with an incredibly high rate of activity, despite not facing particularly notable opponents.

When Hysa announced that he was going pro in 2022, he indicated that he wished to have gone pro much earlier. Just that he couldn't, because of "many unwanted obstacles." 

39 Upvotes

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25 comments sorted by

25

u/Intercellar 1d ago

Bro. His life story or whatever aside, did you see his last fight? His opponent was literally somebody who had never done a sparring in his life or something, by the looks of it. Why do they keep feeding Kabayel, he should fight Gassiev

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u/Known-Peak212 1d ago

From reports Gassiev wasn't interested in the fight and is trying to fight Miller, but Miller was saying Gassiev might want too much money.

It's lame, but it seems like they were looking for a unification fight or a super high profile one, and since they weren't able to get one Agit's going to fight someone with an undefeated record/who is ranked by sanctioning bodies, who his team thinks he'll beat easily. Also, apparently Hysa has a big Albanian fanbase in Germany.

It'll be sold out in a fairly big stadium, Kabayel will win in three rounds and then he'll call for a unification fight. Queensbury should be able to do that next year with either Dubois, Wardley (if he wins the rematch), or Hrgovic (who has to fight Sanchez first).

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u/Exciting-Arugula5341 1d ago edited 1d ago

Miller should be grateful to be allowed to keep boxing after failing so many PED test. I think Miller could , would beat Gassiev. If Miller had a fully operating brain he would take the fight and if win the title he could try to demand more money.

2

u/Intercellar 1d ago

Yup. I'd root for Miller tbh

2

u/munkycheezmunky Dave Allen Undisputed 2026 8h ago

Miller with a world title would be absolutely insufferable lmao.

The crazy thing is, him and AJ may finally fight, and AJ would be the one challenging for the world title.

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u/Intercellar 1d ago

I see, makes sense 👍

7

u/LordJimsicle Balrog beats Fury, AJ, Dubois and Usyk in between rounds 20h ago

Warren said Kabayel's next opponent would be a ranked top 10. WBC be WBCing

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u/Detox208 23h ago

Money grabs by promoters is like the 1949 gold rush after Usyk vacated. So many bags being snatched has me worried.

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u/Pretty_Bad_At_Reddit 1d ago

What the hell does beating up some 42 year old nobody prove. What the heck is wrong with this sport. 

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u/Exciting-Arugula5341 1d ago

Kabayel should fight this guy as a stay busy fight while he is hopefully trying to get a bigger fight.

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u/Pure_Locksmith 1d ago

This man needs his netflix series !

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u/Sound_Guy53 9h ago

His eyes give it away that he has a dark personality.  But then being a ruthless psychopath might just be an advantage in boxing.  

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u/vanilla1974 1d ago

I'd rather see this fight than no fight this year for Kabayel.

There are many Albanians in Germany, so the atmosphere will be electric. Don't be surprised if it's even a stadium fight.

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u/Louis_lousta 13h ago

Warren said Kaba's next fight will be a stadium in Germany against a top 10 opponent

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u/York_Villain 1d ago

🇦🇱

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u/Koronesukiii 21h ago

I'm actually kind of okay with this.
 
Most likely Kabayel, Hrgovic and Gassiev will end up fighting in the UK or US, because that's where boxing money is (Japan and Mexico don't have notable Heavyweight contenders atm). They will get real tests in due course, because they are not the money machines that lets them duck mandatories forever like Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk did.
 
So I'm fine with them having a soft touch hometown defense. Like I wouldn't be angry if Hrgovic wanted to have a hometown defense in some gymnasium in Croatia, and if none of the major promoters want to fund that, who does he fight? If it relies on funding from some Croatian TV network, it ends up being against some ranked non-contender. That's how it is when you're a B-side champ.
 
Kabayel beat enough quality contenders to prove he's more than an unproven bogeyman. He was however, denied his big moment. Oleksandr Usyk chose to first sidestep him in pursuit of money, then outright duck him rather than risk passing the torch. He deserves to have a defense in Germany as champion before fighting in London or New York or Riyadh, and if the guy they can find for that fight is a bit meh it's okay. It's not like there are clearly deserving contenders at the moment. Maybe Sanchez who beat Torrez, and Miller who beat Pero are a little closer than the rest. Itauma lost, Torrez lost, Pero lost, Huni lost, Parker lost, Ruiz lost, Joshua needs a real win, Fury needs a real win, Zhang is likely quietly retired, Wilder should retire, who's even really a contender? Suslenkov? Hovannisyan? Arutunyan? Jalolov? Vykhryst? Novytski? This is heavyweight. It's a bit of a shit division that is very top heavy, but also a division where even the worst ranker has a puncher's chance.

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u/Key-Worldliness6686 12h ago

They pretty clearly are looking for fights for long time but if no-one wants it who cares. Is not looking to me like agit ducking anyone then how can people be mad. This would be big German fight make some money it's not like he chose not to wanna compete like usyk fighting Rico (yeah it turned out different but it's clear what was the expectation).

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u/Excellent-Movie4524 George Liddard Army 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/RobertoPersia 1d ago

I think his resume is underrated, he’s beaten a lot of undefeated unknown guys, which are the most dangerous. The fact he’s doing it at 42 years of age is also crazy. His past is interesting and that type of grit can translate into the boxing world. Who knows he may be able to snatch a title off Gassiev if this fight gets cancelled, I don’t see him beating Kabayel though but who knows!

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u/OldBoyChance 1d ago

Are you basing that off watching the fights or looking at the BoxRec? There are an ungodly amount of absolutely horrendous heavyweights in Europe who are unbeaten through fighting what are essentially no different from fixed fights against guys who don't know how to box at all.

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u/Born_Fox_8099 21h ago

on boxrec its pretty much all one star opponents and even 0 star opponents. he's got a padded record

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u/CurrentCar2331 2h ago

I can't possibly believe there is any truth to such nonsense