Kabayel (27-0, 19 KOs) was elevated from interim champion to full champ after the shocking news that Oleksandr Usyk had vacated his titles late last week. Now the 33-year-old Kabayel, who is The Ring’s No. 2-rated heavyweight, insists he has no intention of holding the belt hostage in Germany during his title reign.

“For me it’s no problem – I’ll fight anyone,” Kabayel told The Ring. “I was the hunter, but now they’re hunting me. But that’s no problem. They can come, I’ll wait. Let’s go. Tyson Fury called me out, so why not? I have respect for him. He’s my big brother, so if he says ‘Agit, I want the belt,’ I’ll say, ‘No problem, brother, we will make the fight.’

“For me it’s no problem, I’ll fight anyone. Brother, if my father called me out for my belt, I’d fight him. This is different. This is the hard way and we will take so many risks for the belt. Now I’m in the best situation. Whoever is the No.1 challenger, I’ll fight him when he’s ready.”

Kabayel hoped to become world heavyweight champion by dethroning Usyk himself. He traveled to Egypt for the Ukrainian’s surprisingly difficult fight with Rico Verhoeven on May 23 in a bid to force the issue.

But ultimately, the man from Bochum had to make do with becoming one of boxing history’s “email champions,” despite trying everything he could to secure a shot at Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs), who stopped Verhoeven (1-1) in controversial fashion late in the 11th round.

“I cannot change it, it is what it is,” Kabayel said. “I did everything I could. I went to Egypt, I went in the ring, I called him out. I did my best. After that, I went back to Germany and made three videos to promote the fight. But I cannot change it, I must respect it.

“I have won 27 times in my career. These were hard fights. Now I can go into a title defense, it’s the same situation. It’s an unbelievable feeling and this is the underdog story."

On the unfruitful negotiations with Team Usyk, he added, “We were talking with Usyk’s team about a potential fight in Germany, but the problem was that we talked so much without reaching a deal.

“We talked with Sergey Lapin, we talked with his team and in the ring in Egypt he said, ‘Let’s do it and let's give the fans the fight.’ But Usyk is 39 with a big legacy and he understands that when he fights Kabayel it’s a very hard fight, not easy money. Hard money fight. This is why he thought that he’s 39 years old and he’s beaten all the big names in this era, so he said he’s finished. I don’t think he ducked me because in his last fight we hear he will fight either Jon Jones or Deontay [Wilder].

“Me against him would have been a very big fight, but I have such a big crowd behind me that every fight in Germany is big. Now I think every fight we make in Germany for the world title will be big for the country. When I fight Fury, Anthony Joshua or another guy, maybe the winner of Fabio Wardley and Daniel Dubois, all fights are big in Germany. They can all happen in a stadium.”

Kabayel was as surprised as anyone when Usyk announced his decision via social media on Friday. It meant that his dream of becoming world heavyweight champion was confirmed while he was on a plane.

“It was unbelievable,” Kabayel said. “I was on a flight and Spencer Brown messaged me saying, ‘This is important. Please call me back.’ He said, ‘Congratulations, Agit, you are the heavyweight world champion right now.’ It was unbelievable. It is what it is. I will go into a world title defense which is important to me. But now this was my goal, my dream that one day I’d be world heavyweight champion.

“When I saw the video from Usyk, I thought it was crazy that he’d dropped all the belts. I thought he had finished his career, but in the video he said he will have one more fight. We respect it. For me it would have been better to fight with Usyk. He’s one of the greatest of all time and the greatest in my division right now, but it is what it is and I respect a lot.”