Dan Rafael posted the comments from Sanchez’s manager shortly after the fight, and the message was direct. The belief inside Sanchez’s team is that the loss to Kabayel should not define him because they view that performance as injury-related rather than a true measure of where he is now.

After heavyweight Frank Sanchez crushed Richard Torrez to become IBF mandatory challenger I spoke to Sanchez’s manager, @BORAOENT. “Everyone gave up on Frank except his team,” he said. “He lost once due to an injury. Frank beats anyone in his current state.” #boxing

— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) May 23, 2026

The reaction online was mixed. Some fans pointed immediately to Kabayel, who stopped Sanchez last year and has since become one of the most dangerous heavyweights in the division. Others focused on how different Sanchez looked physically and mentally against Torrez compared to his recent performances.

Some fans pointed immediately to Kabayel, who stopped Sanchez in 2024. Sanchez, however, appeared compromised physically during that fight. By the sixth and seventh rounds, he was visibly favoring one leg and struggling to stay balanced. Kabayel recognized the issue and repeatedly leaned on Sanchez in the clinches before finishing him in the seventh.

Torrez entered the fight with momentum and strong backing from Top Rank, but Sanchez controlled the action and ended matters emphatically. The result changed the conversation around him almost overnight.

The timing is important because the heavyweight division is crowded with big-money options for Usyk. Kabayel wants his shot. Dubois remains in the mix after his recent run. Fury is still hovering around another major event fight. Sanchez now has a sanctioning-body position that gives him leverage entering those discussions.

Whether he actually gets a title shot soon is another question. Sanchez lacks the commercial profile of Fury, Joshua, or Dubois, but becoming the IBF mandatory gives his team a real argument after years of drifting out of the spotlight.

One thing that became clear after Usyk’s win over Rico Verhoeven was that Sanchez barely entered the discussion at all despite becoming the IBF mandatory challenger earlier in the night.

The conversation immediately moved toward Agit Kabayel, Tyson Fury, Daniel Dubois, and a possible Rico rematch. Sanchez was almost invisible in the post-fight chatter despite arguably scoring the most important heavyweight win outside the main event.