Agit Kabayel picks an easy opponent Damian Knyba next

WBC Interim Heavyweight Champion Agit Kabayel (26-0, 18 KOs) will have a busy fight against unranked Damian Knyba (17-0, 11 KOs). live on DAZN on January 10, 2026, at the Rudolf Weber-Arena, Oberhausen, Germany.

Knyba, 29, is useful for Kabayel to get some rounds in, as he will be coming off an 11-month retirement since knocking out Zhilei Zhang in the sixth round on February 22, 2025. Other than that, this is a disappointing choice of opponent for Kabayel.

Knyba’s thin CV

Damian Knyba’s last five wins

• Joey Dawejko
• Marcin Siwy
• Andrzej Wawrzyk
• Richard Lartey
• Michael Polite Coffee

Knyba is coming off a 7th round knockout of Joey Dawejko on October 18, 2025 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. This fight was a perfect example of how Knyba performs. He primarily threw jabs and would occasionally land a right hand. It’s his bread and butter punch. The fight was Knyba’s third in 2025, making him one of the busiest heavyweights. However, at his age it is understandable why he fights often.

The choice of Knyba is picking low-hanging fruit and is not interesting to fans outside of Poland and Germany. Promotionally, it’s a fight that makes sense. Top Rank promotes the lanky Polish fighter Knyba, and Queensberry promotes the 6’3″ Kabayel. In Europe, this is a fight that will attract viewers.

Knyba has yet to face anyone during his four-year professional career. He was met with opposition at the scholarly level. For a fighter of his age, it’s strange that he hasn’t been sharpened until now. He is almost 30 and is finally facing his first world-class fighter.

As an amateur, Knyba had a 9-3 record before turning pro. This may be why the Top Rankings have been slow to move up against contenders. He was matched as if he were still an amateur, but he faced worse opposition than he would have had he stopped to turn pro.

The 6’7″ Knyba doesn’t bring much to the table in terms of power, speed and CV. He’s a slow, weak version of Wladimir Klitschko if you take away his old arsenal. He looks like a poor man’s version of Klitschko.

Speed-wise, Knyba is nowhere near Klitschko and looks even slower than his big brother, Vitali Klitschko. It is unclear why Top Rank bothered to sign Knyba. He has not shown the type of talent that suggests he will be a major player in the heavyweight division.