On paper, Janibek Alimkhanuly should be considered the best middleweight in the world.
I emphasize “on paper” because it’s been a while since he made a statement that would give a fighter that kind of title – which is partly because it’s been a year since his last fight, as he failed to make weight earlier in 2024.
It was in July that he was pulled from a fight scheduled against Andrei Mikhailovich for the IBF and WBO 160-pound titles in Las Vegas because, according to his manager Egis Klimas: “Although tests showed no kidney damage, he was severely dehydrated and is not in able to fight.”
Instead, Alimkhanuly-Mikhailovich will take place on Friday and in Sydney, Australia. There was a time when Alimkhanuly looked great, but the struggle to gain weight has to be a concern and makes me wonder if there’s a time coming when we’ll see him fighting at 168 pounds instead – especially since he’s from Kazakhstan and fighters from Eastern Europe are usually among the most disciplined of all.
I commented on many of his early fights on Top Rank promotion cards. He methodically dismantled opponents – even good journeymen, at such an early stage. He was selected opponents to test him, and he tactfully disarmed, dismantled and broke them. He also had a few good knockouts, but what was most impressive was the way he blasted his opponents to pieces with his high boxing IQ.
He is also a southpaw, with a long reach of 71.5 inches, and he is clumsy. He looked great.
Even today, I would make him the favorite against any other vigorous middleweight. But not the way I used to do it. And if the time comes when we see him at 168 pounds, I’m also not convinced he has the right staff to be successful there.
Where he was once on track to become the top middleweight in the world, he would be below elite at super middleweight. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez remains number one; there are also blue-collar fighters like Jaime Munguia, Christian Mbilli and Edgar Berlanga. If they didn’t want to take part in a boxing match with Alimkhanuly, they could impose their size on him and he didn’t have enough power to stop them.
The Australian market seems to me to be increasingly vital to some of the top promoters in the world given the way they appear to be trying to get a fight there or sign a top Australian fighter – which will be partly due to the existing untapped fan base there. Mikhailovich may be from nearby Novel Zealand, but Friday’s fight, announced relatively delayed in advance, doesn’t seem likely to make Alimkhanuly a crossover star, so it’s challenging to say what it will do for him from a business standpoint.
In the year 2024, the middleweight division, which has been one of the most eminent for so long, is extremely faint, which means that Alimkhanuly is still considered number one. A unification fight is complex to arrange when there is more than one superstar in a weight class; in 2024, there are none at all – Hamzah Sheeraz seems most likely to change that – which should make it easier for all interested parties to organize the most attractive fights.
Also at 160 pounds, I respect Carlos Adames and his physicality, but it was Sheeraz who caught my attention the most. Sheeraz doesn’t just have physical assets like frame, length, strength and power – as he showed by stopping Tyler Denny in two rounds on the Daniel Dubois-Anthony Joshua undercard, he continues to improve. He looked great in June when he defeated Austin “Ammo” Williams – and Williams is another fighter whose look I liked.
I’d be interested in fighting Sheeraz in a fight against any of his division rivals, and given his talent, the only reason he might lose at this stage is his lack of top-level experience – and even that might not be enough to stop him . If he proves he has the drive to complement his technique and athleticism, there will come a time when he will beat them all.
Sheeraz’s fellow Brit, Chris Eubank Jnr, is popular in the UK but has little popularity in the US. It’s also challenging to truly consider him a top middleweight because even if that’s his natural weight class, he seems most interested in fighting Conor Benn at sub-160 pounds or Canelo at 168 pounds for the biggest payday he can earn .
He sells the fight very well, and he has talent for it. On October 12, he fights Kamil Szeremeta – whom I saw live against Gennady Golovkin – and I expect him to win convincingly because he is far too animated, skilled and robust for such a one-dimensional opponent who is so uncomplicated to hit.
It worries me that Alimkhanuly is fighting in Australia because of his previous efforts to gain 160 pounds – there are many other factors involved in traveling that far. We have also seen strange things during fights in Australia before – including relatively recently, Manny Pacquiao, one of the greatest figures in the history of the sport, undeservedly losing a decision to Jeff Horn.
However, if Alimkhanuly manages to gain weight safely, he will retain the potential to remind everyone why he was so highly regarded not too long ago. If he fights to the best of his ability, he can dominate the undefeated Mikhailovich. Friday’s fight will show us which weight class he belongs in – but it’s the middleweight division he should ideally be in and that also needs him.
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