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Frank Sanchez faces 13 months of questions in the IBF Eliminator

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Image: Frank Sanchez Enters IBF Eliminator With 13-Month Question Still Unanswered

Frank Sanchez is gunning for a heavyweight title shot, but the immediate question is whether 13 months out of the ring will restore what broke Agit Kabayel.

Sanchez, 33, has built his position on balance and restraint. He controlled the distance, slid just out of range and counterattacked with uncomplicated, effective lines. This foundation collapsed in May 2024 after a destitute card of the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk match, when Agit Kabayel dropped him twice and forced a stoppage in the seventh round. Sanchez’s right knee seemed unstable early in the fight. His balance changed. His posture narrowed. As his base weakened, exchanges that once seemed measured began to seem rushed, and the placid that defined him disappeared.


Sanchez returned the following February and stopped Ramon Olivas Echeverria within three rounds, but that performance amounted to little. The opponent did not exert long-term pressure and did not force long movements or defensive reads. Sanchez hasn’t fought since that night. The break is now 13 months long, which is a long break for a heavyweight trying to establish himself in a division that punishes swings.

This question accompanied him until March 28 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, where he met Richard Torrez Jr. in the IBF eliminator of the Sebastian Fundora vs. Keith Thurman fight. The setting is significant, but the study is personal.

Free time after a loss caused by downtime can lend a hand repair damaged joints and restore physical strength, but it can also uninteresting the instincts that only lively competition sustains. Heavyweight timing is all about positioning and reaction. A step taken too overdue, a stance too upright, or a delayed counterattack can quickly change the tone of the round. These aren’t dramatic changes, but they are crucial once heavyweights start landing cleanly.

Torrez hasn’t spent the last year waiting. He fought several times in 2024 and again in 2025 against different opponents, logging rounds in different types of fights. This level of activity makes the competitor familiar with the speed and pressure of live competition, so there is no need to adjust when the bell rings and exchanges begin. For someone who has been on a long hiatus, this familiarity can quickly surface, especially if the fight is physical.

The rankings attached to this eliminator are critical, but the more revealing answer concerns Sanchez. If the knee was the main reason for his setbacks against Kabayel, the difference should be noticeable in the way he moves and how he places his feet when the pace picks up. If the loss has affected more than his balance, that will also show when Torrez starts to apply pressure and trades no longer feel comfortable. Heavyweight fights often require early responses.

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Last update: 2026/03/01 at 15:21

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Peter Fury claims Tyson used the wrong tactics against Usyk

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Image: Tyson Fury's Social Media Post Keeps the Joshua Fight Fantasy Alive in the UK

“Well, he has his team there and I’m not criticizing anyone, but in both fights his tactics weren’t good,” Peter said in an interview with Sport Boxing.

“It worked out badly because look, if we have a little guy here who can throw, let’s say, a welterweight who can throw a thousand punches, and we have a heavyweight, will a heavyweight fighter throw a thousand punches with him? No.”

“Or maybe he’ll step in and take one good shot? Absolutely.”

“So basically yes, the strategy was just wrong. It doesn’t mean Usyk was better than him. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t say anything. You misunderstand the tactics and they are wrong.

“And you know, when you look at Usyk’s structure and what he does, when he distances himself and tries to box an elite boxer who is lighter than you and who is giving away pounds, he will ping you all over the shop. That should be noticed,” Peter Fury said.

Tyson Fury announced his return earlier this year and is expected to have a preparatory fight before the start of his scheduled series with Anthony Joshua. Queensbury promoter Frank Warren recently confirmed that Fury’s next opponent could be announced in the coming days, with the long-awaited fight against Joshua expected to take place later this year.

Usyk remains at the top of the heavyweight division and has been ordered to fight WBC interim champion Agit Kabayel. Warren also confirmed that negotiations for the fight are ongoing.

Fury’s third meeting with Usyk has not been announced. Peter Fury, however, remains convinced that the strategy used in the first two fights determined the result.

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The politician’s perfect 12-0 KO record remains the strangest in boxing

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Jorge Kahwagi poses at a WBC weigh-in during his controversial 12-0 professional boxing career

Jorge Kahwagi achieved something almost impossible in professional boxing. The Mexican politician retired with a perfect record of 12-0, knocked out every opponent he faced, and finished his entire career in just 15 rounds.

On paper, this looks like one of the most devastating runs the sport has ever seen. In fact, many boxing fans wondered if they even believed it.

Perfect record

Kahwagi turned professional in 2001, despite having no boxing experience. Over the next fourteen years, he set an undefeated record, won regional titles, and never once heard the final bell.

Twelve fights brought twelve victories. All twelve victories were by knockout in just fifteen rounds.

The numbers are tough to understand even now.

Several of Kahwagi’s opponents entered the ring in defeat. Others seemed hopelessly outmatched.

But the record continued to grow as the politician and businessman rose through the cruiserweight ranks without ever being seriously tested.

By the time he retired in 2015 after returning from a ten-year hiatus for one final fight, Kahwagi owned one of boxing’s most remarkable undefeated records.

Why fans never bought it

The controversy surrounding Kahwaga was not in itself. This is how some of these victories turned out.

His last fight against Ramon Olivas remains the fight most frequently mentioned in discussions about Kahwagi’s career. The break came after seemingly minimal contact, prompting criticism from fans and observers.

Doubts have already surrounded previous victories, including the victory over veteran Roberto Coelho.

Whether these doubts were justified or not, the damage was done and many fans never accepted Kahwagi’s record at face value.

WBC

Boxing has seen this before

Kahwagi’s record may be extraordinary, but in boxing there is always controversy when it comes to results.

As WBN reports, while John Riel Casimero faces a fight-fixing investigation in 2025, debates continue to arise in the contemporary era about what happens inside the ropes.

Long before that, Roy Jones Jr. denied winning Olympic gold in Seoul despite dominating Park Si-hun in what many still consider the greatest heist in boxing history.

More than thirty years later, Park returned the medal to Jones.

The Kahwagi case falls into a different category, but the result is often the same. Once fans stop believing what they’re watching, the debate never really stops.

Still one of the strangest

Few fighters retire with a perfect record, and even fewer retire after every knockout victory.

Kahwagi handled both, finishing his entire professional career in just 15 innings, and those numbers remain remarkable.

More than a decade after his retirement, the debate surrounding his record has never really died down.

That’s why Jorge Kahwagi’s perfect 12-0 record remains one of the strangest in boxing history.


About the author

Phil Jay is the editor-in-chief of World Boxing News (WBN) and a boxing veteran with over 15 years of experience. Read the full biography.

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Boxing

Teofimo Lopez sees only one winner of David Benavidez vs. Dmitry Bivol title fight

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Teofimo Lopez can only see one winner in David Benavidez vs Dmitry Bivol title fight

One of the most coveted fights in boxing right now is the lithe heavyweight clash between unified champion Dmitry Bivol and WBC ruler David Benavidez for the undisputed 175-pound crown.

However, two-division world champion Teofimo Lopez believes that the fight could end in a “massacre”.

Bivol won the undisputed lithe heavyweight title of the world took revenge for his defeat against Artur Beterbiev in February last yearbut soon afterwards the Russian was stripped of the WBC marble and Benavidez became world champion.

“The Mexican Monster” has since won the unified cruiserweight crown, but maintains he would be willing to cut weight to face Bivol and claim the undisputed honors.

Speaking on Inside The Ring programLopez renamed Benavidez the “Massacre Monster” when discussing the potential fight, believing the age difference between the two lithe heavyweight champions could be crucial to the outcome of the fight.

“I’m going to call Benavidez a ‘massacre monster’ because, man, [that performance against Ramirez] it was nasty. It’s really nasty, really.

“He [Benavidez] enters its flowering period, while the other [Bivol] is on the way out. You have to think about these things too.”

Bivol fulfilled his IBF obligation by defending his belts against Michael Eifert last weekend, but the WBO ordered him to face mandatory challenger Callum Smith in order to retain the WBO belt.

As a result, it appears that a potential Bivol-Benavidez clash will have to wait until 2027, with Beterbiev also being considered for the trilogy.

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