Akgul's reign as one of the best heavyweights in the world started a decade ago at the senior level Mediterranean championships in 2010 when he walked away with a silver medal. At the junior world championships that same year, Akgul was a silver medalist and following that never looked back as he entered senior level competition full time. 2012 was a busy year for the Turkish star starting off with him winning the Yasar Dogu, carrying that momentum into the European championships where he took home gold. Akgul went to the olympic qualifier a month later finishing as the runner up to qualify for the London games in 2012. While Akgul finished eighth at the olympics that year he would go to the university world championships two months later to take home gold.