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Zhanibek Alimkhanuly Ready to Defend Middleweight Titles

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By: Sean Crose

It’s secure to say that the middleweight division isn’t what it once was, at least when it comes to attracting the public’s attention. Some of the biggest names in boxing history have been middleweight champions. Bob Fitzsimons, Harry Greb, Tony Zale, Ray Robinson, Carlos Monzon, Marvin Hagler, and Gennady Golovkin have all brought prestige and fame to the middleweight division. While Zhanibek Alimkhanuly’s name doesn’t carry as much weight as those mentioned above, there’s no denying the success this man has had in the middleweight division. At 15-0, the 31-year-old Kazakh fighter currently holds the WBO and IBF titles.

Alimkhanuly will put those belts, as well as his undefeated record, on the line Saturday night in Las Vegas when he faces 21-0 Andrei Mikhailovich in a scheduled 12-round bout. Of course, most of the attention this weekend is focused on Jaron “Boots” Ennis’ welterweight title defense in Philadelphia, but that doesn’t mean Alimkhanuly and Mikhailovich don’t have a chance to shine in front of ESPN+ cameras. This is the middleweight division, after all, a realm waiting for the next large name to make his mark. And that’s no miniature feat.

Dominating the division is no simple feat, though. Even though Alimkhanuly hasn’t faced any large names, he’s certainly impressed. With his low left jab and solid footwork, this guy has a left that can do some solemn damage. Alimkhanuly also does a great job of landing combinations. After all, he’s stopped 10 of his 15 opponents within range. To win this weekend, Mikhaiovich will have to stop the defending champion from landing well. But that’s the crux of the matter – because Alimkhanuly is known for finding a way to land demanding on his opponents, especially when it comes to his vicious uppercut.

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Boxing

News Summary; Eubank, Canelo, Gilley, Fulton,

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On Saturday evening, CHRIS EUBANK JR will have former coach Wladimir Klitschko in his corner.

Jonathon Banks, who led Klitschko’s team after Manny Steward’s death, also worked with Dillian Whyte and Gennady Golovkin.

Eubank is not afraid to rotate corners, having previously worked with Ronnie Davies, Roy Jones Jr and Brian ‘Bomac’ McIntyre. On Saturday evening, the 35-year-old middleweight fighter will face Pole Kamil Szeremeta. Banks was in Golovkin’s corner four years ago when the Kazakh champion defeated Szeremeta in seven rounds.


CANELO ALVAREZ will reportedly be in Japan on Sunday to watch one of the Inoue brothers in action.

Takuma Inoue defends his WBA bantamweight title against Seiya Tsutsumi in an event featuring four world title fights. Canelo’s trainer Eddy Reynoso will be at work, however, as his fighter Cristofer Rosales will face Kenshiro Teraji for the vacant WBC flyweight title.


SAM GILLEY understands he has a novel opponent for October 18 after Louis Greene withdrew from the rematch.

Both super welterweights had one of the best domestic fights of 2023, which Gilley won via unanimous decision. Greene’s replacement will be Jack McGann, who was stopped in one round by Greene in March.


Fulton’s only loss came against Naoya Inoue in July 2023. (Getty Images)

STEPHEN FULTON will continue his path to becoming a two-division world champion when he returns on December 14.

ESPN reports that the former unified super bantamweight champion will face featherweight Brandon Figueroa at the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach main event in Houston.

Fulton and Figueroa have already met once in November 2021, when Fulton added the WBC world title to his WBO 122-pound title, defeating the Texan by majority decision in a great fight.

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Boxing

Jermall Charlo will return to Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach on December 14 at PPV in Houston

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Jermall Charlo fought his way back home to end his final break from the ring.

The Ring has confirmed that the former two-division champion will return to the ring on December 14. Charlo (33-0, 22 knockouts) will appear on Gervonta “Tank” Davis-Lamont Roach PBC’s Prime Pay-Per-View event at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

At the time of publication, the adversary had not yet been identified. However, The Ring learned that the main candidate is Thomas “Cornflake” LaManna (38-5-1, 17 KO). Such a fight would take place at the full super middleweight limit.

PBC creator Al Haymon was trying to replace the injured Nico Collins on his NFL Fantasy Football team, but was unable to comment on the situation.

Houston’s Charlo will be out of the ring for just over a year before fight night. He ended a 29-month absence from the ring on November 25 last year in Las Vegas with a ten-round victory over Jose Benavidez Jr. (28-3-1, 19 KOs). Charlo did not make the set weight for the fight, reaching a career-high 166.4 pounds.

This will mark his second fight in a row in the super middleweight division. Charlo already held the IBF junior middleweight and WBC middleweight titles.

Previous rumors claimed that Charlo would potentially face fellow former two-division titleholder Demetrius Andrade. However, The Ring confirmed that these were false hopes and that such a match was never included in the budget for the Davis-Roach undercard.

Charlo’s last home fight came in June 2021, when he scored over Juan Macias Montiel (23-6-2, 23 KO). The fight also took place at the Toyota Center and was the fourth and final defense of his WBC middleweight title.

Personal problems forced a longer break from the ring. Along with this, plans to defend the title against Maciej Sulecki in June 2022 in this place were canceled.

Charlo was ultimately cleared from the WBC 160-pound fight due to his inability to defend against interim champion and mandatory challenger Carlos Adames (24-1, 18 KO). Charlo has been given the title of “Hi-time Champion”, although he is not expected to return to middleweight.

If this fight takes place, it will be LaManna’s third career fight above 160 pounds.

The 32-year-old from southern Modern Jersey has won eight straight since a knockout loss to Erislandy Lara in May 2021. The fight will feature a secondary version of the WBA middleweight title. Since then, Lara has landed a full slate of titles, and LaManna is planning a comeback.

In his last appearance, LaManna scored a second-round knockout of normally fit Juan Carlos Abreu (26-8-1, 24 KOs). Their clash took place on June 8 in LaManna’s home region of Atlantic City.

Follow @JakeNDaBox

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Ohara Davies watch out: Adam Azim has found his ‘manly strength’

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Adam Azim has been making headlines since bursting onto the British boxing scene four years ago.

What initially caught attention was Azim’s incredible hand speed. However, his influence caused him to quickly engage in a fight for the victory with his younger welterweight rival Dalton Smith.

Each fighter benefits greatly from having a talented, high-profile rival, but despite the best efforts of the governing bodies, a match between the two is still a long way off and it has begun to feel like the constant chatter and maneuvering is overshadowing Azim’s development.

Ankle and wrist injuries have kept Azim (11-0, 8 KO) out of the ring since he defended his European title against Enock Poulsen in February. As frustrating as it was to force the newborn player to the side, the setbacks may have been his body’s way of telling him – and everyone around him – to snail-paced down.

In his absence, Azim relinquished the European title and Smith vacated the British belt after stopping the still unsafe Jose Zepeda to legitimize himself as a world title challenger. The two are further apart than they have been in a while.

Azim seems to have benefited from this break. Instead of constantly working on a specific opponent, he was able to work on his all-around game and instead of defending his career path, he focused solely on self-improvement.

On October 19, Azim returns to action in a reasonable and meaningful domestic fight against recent world title challenger Ohara Davies.

The conversation about Smith will inevitably heat up again, but over the next few weeks the talented Azim will be at the center of his own story again.

“My attitude towards this fight is completely different. I’ve been working really strenuous in the gym, improving every day and working extremely strenuous,” Azim told BoxingScene. “The good thing about being in the gym all the time is that you take into account what you need to do in the ring and keep working on it. That’s why I’m working on my footwork and internal fight, which is one of the things I want to work on.

“As a complete package – as a professional player – it’s good to have a good inside game, but also an outside game.”

It seemed like barely a month had passed without Azim scoring such a spectacular early goal that provides manna from heaven for social media teams and fuel for the hype machine.

In November 2022, Azim made his sixth straight stoppage quickly, defeating the tough Rylan Charlton over two rounds, and then the search began for opponents who could weather the early storm and give him quality innings.

The matchmakers certainly did their job.

Santos Reyes got up from the floor and went 10 rounds, just like Adam Faniian. Franck Petitjean made it to the 10th round of a free European title fight before ultimately being overwhelmed, while a shoulder injury forced Enock Poulsen to withdraw after five rounds earlier this year.

The rounds were invaluable. They gave Azim confidence in the gas tank, but also taught him which elements of his style would work at a championship level and which elements needed more work.

“You know what?” Azim said. “After the Rylan Charlton fight, I fought Santos Reyes and when I dropped him, I thought, ‘Yes, I’ve got him again.’ But there is a point where these people have strenuous heads, good chins and there is a way where you have to overcome it in a mature way. In my case, I was just throwing punches, trying to get him out, not thinking about it.

“If I fought him again, the story would be different because now I know how to beat him, you know? If I had stayed inside with him then, I would have gotten him out because I just kept it ticking for so long. It’s those three and four punches, not just one or two, where there are shots that they can’t see.

“Even with the Aram Fanian fight, it was a unsafe fight for me at the beginning. He fought 24 fights and lost only one during that time, so he was a good, advancing opponent for me.

“Now the fights last longer, I can think about how to eliminate them and break them – but that comes with maturity. I was 19, 20 years venerable then. Now I’m 22, so I’m getting older and of course gaining masculine strength, which is also good to have.

I work really strenuous so I know what to do in the ring.

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