Boxing

Next Heavyweight Champ? Egas Klimas Reveals His Top 3 Rising Stars

Klimas is a boxing powerhouse who offers his take on the next crop of heavyweights to watch
Joseph Hammond|
Usyk and Fury gave boxing some great fights but are in the twilight of their careers.
Usyk and Fury gave boxing some great fights but are in the twilight of their careers. | IMAGO / PA Images

Oleksander Usyk is 38. One year younger than Deontay Wilder. Tyson Fury is 37 next month. Anthony Joshua is 36. The fighters who made this a golden era for the heavyweight division are in the twilight of their careers in the ring.

Egas Klimas sat down with KO on SI to offer his take on the division, and while he hasn't seen anyone that made him go "wow" so far in the crop of heavyweight prospects, here are the three fighters he is keeping his eye on.

Andrii Novytskyi (15-0, 11 KOs)

Egas Klimas tapped Ukraine's Novytskyi as one to watch, which is perhaps not surprising. The Ukrainian is one of several promising fighters currently managed by Klimas, and like Klimas, he also lives in Southern California.

Novytskyi has sparred with Zhang Zhilei and is regarded as a technically sharp, steadily rising heavyweight. At 15-0, he's built momentum against respectable opposition and is collecting passport stamps fighting around the world, including a Riyadh Season card in Saudi Arabia.

Agit Kabayel (26-0, 18 KOs)

Agit Kabayel gets it done against Zhilei Zhang
IMAGO / Norbert Schmidt

Agit Kabayel shook up the heavyweight division with his victory over Zhilei Zhang. It wasn't just that Kabayel got up off the floor, it was that he stopped Zhang with a bodyshot – almost unheard of in today's boxing, let alone the heavyweight division.

Everyone in boxing knows the simple strategy "Attack the body, the head will follow," yet only Kabayel has learned the technical skill and self-confidence to exploit this strategy on an elite level.

Moses Itauma (20-0, 10 KOs)

Klimas also mentioned Itauma as one to watch, saying he's curious to see how "he would grow." The 20-year-old British southpaw prospect will face Dillian Whyte in Saudi Arabia on August 16. Ituama will headline the card, though against Dillian Whyte, a faded contender whose career has been dogged by positive tests for banned substances. If Itauma has the goods, he should make short work of him.

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Joseph Hammond
JOSEPH HAMMOND

Joseph Hammond is a veteran sports journalist with extensive experience covering world championship fights across three continents. He has interviewed legendary champions such as Julio César Chávez, Manny Pacquiao, Floyd Mayweather, Gennady Golovkin, Oscar De La Hoya, and Bernard Hopkins, among many others. He reported ringside for KO On SI in 2024 for the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk bout in Riyadh - the first undisputed heavyweight championship in 24 years.

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