Janibek Alimkhanuly’s unified title reign is in danger although one belt is at stake for his subsequent struggle.
The Ring’s No. 1-rated middleweight will put his IBF title on the road versus obligatory challenger Andrei Mikhailovich. Their bout will happen on Oct. 4 at The Star in Sydney, Australia. ESPN+ will stream the struggle within the U.S., whereas it’s going to air dwell without cost on Kayo Sports activities in Australia.
Kazakhstan’s Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 knockouts) additionally holds the WBO title. Nevertheless, the sanctioning physique rendered the bout as a non-title affair. Due to that, New Zealand’s Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KOs) is simply eligible to win the IBF strap.
Alimkhanuly will retain each titles if he wins. A loss will see Mikhailovich take house the IBF title, whereas the WBO belt will probably be vacant.
The timing comes as The Ring has realized a Hamzah Sheeraz-Denzel Bentley struggle is being explored for later this 12 months. Sheeraz (20-0, 13 KOs) should first defeat red-hot contender Tyler Denny (19-2-3, 1 KO) this Saturday at Wembley Stadium in London.
Sheeraz and Denny are rated No. 1 and No. 2 by the WBO. Such a struggle is predicted to come back with at the least an interim title at stake.
Alimkhanuly-Mikhailovich was beforehand attributable to happen on July 13 in Las Vegas. The struggle was canceled previous to the pre-fight weigh-in when Alimkhanuly was hospitalized attributable to dehydration.
Mikhailovich was left with out a struggle consequently. Alimkhanuly was subsequently summoned by the WBO—whose title he additionally holds—to supply medical proof of what led to his dehydration and whether or not he was match to renew his reign.
In the meantime, the IBF intervened and put the struggle again on the desk. The matter offered an epic second for the #PurseBidHeads faction of the game. No Restrict Boxing, Mikhailovich’s promoter, outbid Prime Rank by a mere $1,000 ($351,000 to $350,000) to win the rights to the struggle on Sept. 3. Sources knowledgeable The Ring that Prime Rank VP Carl Moretti was nonetheless celebrating Notre Dame’s Aug. 31 win over Texas A&M and forgot to seize the larger purse bid envelope.
A date was secured to permit Alimkhanuly to renew his profession.
“Within the Olympic Video games in Sydney, two Kazakh boxers gained gold,” Alimkhanuly theorized. “Bekzat Sattarhanov and Yermakhan Ibraimov impressed many Kazakhs. I grew up with a dream to glorify my nation like them and am very completely satisfied that I’ll field in Sydney. I need to present the world my flag in Sydney as soon as once more, as our Olympic champions did in 2000.
“The struggle with Andrei is essential to me as a result of he’s an official contender for my title. He is sort of a cloud for me now. I have to rapidly do away with the cloud to see the solar. Everybody is aware of and understands that he’s straightforward work for me. I’ll knock him out in a short time!”
Alimkhanuly makes an attempt his fourth total title protection and first of the IBF belt. He knocked out unbeaten Vincent Gualtieri within the sixth-round knockout of their IBF/WBO unification bout final Oct. 14 in Rosenburg, Texas.
Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KOs) enters his first profession title struggle. The timing means he fights for one belt as an alternative of two however is unbothered by that or his opponent’s lack of respect.
“I dwell within the current, however I definitely haven’t forgotten the previous,”Mikhailovich stated. “I respect him because the champion, however I do know that he doesn’t respect me. It’s why I stay up for taking completely all the things from him. I will probably be writing my title into the historical past books alongside Joseph Parker and Maselino Masoe as a world champion.
“That is my future, it’s my all the things. I’ll cease at nothing to ensure the world remembers the title Andrei Mikhailovich.”
