Janibek Alimkhanuly’s unified title reign is in jeopardy, even though one belt is on the line for his next fight.
The Ring’s No. 1-rated middleweight will put his IBF title on the line against mandatory challenger Andrei Mikhailovich. Their fight will take place on October 4 at The Star in Sydney, Australia. ESPN+ will stream the fight in the US, while it will be broadcast live for free on Kayo Sports in Australia.
Kazakhstan’s Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 KOs) also holds the WBO title. However, the sanctioning body rendered the fight a non-title affair. As a result, New Zealand’s Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KOs) is only eligible to win the IBF belt.
Alimkhanuly will retain both titles if he wins. With a loss, Mikhailovich will take home the IBF title, while the WBO belt will be vacant.
The timing comes as The Ring has learned a Hamzah Sheeraz-Denzel Bentley fight is being explored for later this year. Sheeraz (20-0, 13 KOs) must defeat red-hot contender Tyler Denny (19-2-3, 1 KO) this coming Saturday at Wembley Stadium in London.
Sheeraz and Denny are ranked as no. 1 and no. rated by the WBO. Such a fight is expected to come with at least an interim title on the line.
Alimkhanuly-Mikhailovich was previously scheduled to take place on July 13 in Las Vegas. The fight was canceled before the pre-fight weigh-in when Alimkhanuly was hospitalized due to dehydration.
Consequently, Mikhailovich was left without a fight. Alimkhanuly was subsequently summoned by the WBO – whose title he also holds – to provide medical proof of what led to his dehydration and whether he was fit to resume his reign.
Meanwhile, the IBF intervened and put the fight back on the table. The case provided an epic moment for the #PurseBidHeads faction of the sport. No Limit Boxing, Mikhailovich’s promoter, outbid a single dollar ($351,000 to $350,000) on the top ranking to win the rights to the Sept. 3 fight. Sources informed The Ring that top pitching VP Carl Moretti was still celebrating Notre Dame’s Aug. 31 win over Texas A&M and forgot to grab the bigger purse bid envelope.
A date has been set to allow Alimkhanuly to resume his career.
“In the Sydney Olympics, two Kazakh boxers won gold,” Alimkhanuly theorized. “Bekzat Sattarhanov and Yermakhan Ibraimov inspired many Kazakhs. I grew up with a dream to glorify my country like them and am very happy that I will be boxing in Sydney. I want to show the world my flag again in Sydney, like our Olympic champions did in 2000.
“The fight with Andrei is very important for me, because he is an official contender for my title. He is like a cloud to me now. I need to quickly get rid of the cloud to see the sun. Everyone knows and understands that he is easy work for me. I will knock him out very quickly!”
Alimkhanuly is attempting his fourth overall title defense and first of the IBF belt. He knocked out undefeated Vincent Gualtieri in the sixth round of their IBF/WBO unification bout last October 14 in Rosenburg, Texas.
Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KOs) enters his first career title fight. The timing means he’s fighting for one belt instead of two, but isn’t bothered by that or his opponent’s lack of respect.
“I live in the present, but I certainly haven’t forgotten the past,” Mikhailovich said. “I respect him as the champion, but I know he doesn’t respect me. That’s why I look forward to taking absolutely everything from him. I will write my name in the history books along with Joseph Parker and Maselino Masoe as a world champion.
“This is my destiny, this is my everything. I will stop at nothing to make sure that the world remembers the name Andrei Mikhailovich.”
