Janibek Alimkhanuly had twice as much trouble making weight as his team had in determining the stakes for Friday’s fight.

The undefeated and unified middleweight champion weighed in at 171.7 pounds at the second day of the IBF weigh-ins. The result was just under the allowed 7.5 percent excess under the IBF’s modified same-day weight control regulations. IBF mandatory challenger Andrei Mikhailovich weighed in at 169.2 pounds as he prepared for his first career title fight.

At Thursday’s official pre-fight weigh-in, both fighters were within their contracted 160-pound limit. Alimkhnauly (15-0, 10 knockouts) weighed 159.5 pounds and Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KO) weighed 159.9 pounds.

Their fight will headline Friday’s ESPN+ show on The Star in Sydney, Australia. The event will also be broadcast locally on Kayo Sports.

Originally, Alimkhanuky was only supposed to defend the IBF belt. However, a recent WBO ruling reiterated that her belt is also at stake in what the sanctioning body considers a voluntary title defense.

The public declaration irritated the Alimkhanuly team, which felt cheated and agreed to comply with the IBF’s second day weigh-in. The clause does not apply during a unified title defense. This fight was considered a mandatory defense of the IBF title only until October 1. However, it was always known that Alimkhanuly would be stripped of his WBO title if he lost on Friday.

The Alimkhanuly-Mikhailovich gala 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 with dehydration.

As a result, Mikhailovich was left without a fight. Alimkhanuly was then summoned by the WBO – whose title he also holds – to provide medical evidence as to 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. This case was an epic moment for the #PurseBidHeads sports faction. No Limit Boxing, Mikhailovich’s promoter, outbid Top Rank by just $1,000 ($351,000-$350,000) to win the rights to the fight scheduled for September 3.

Alimkhanuly is making his fourth attempt to defend his title in the general classification and the first in the history of the IBF belt. He knocked out undefeated Vincent Gualtieri in the sixth round of their IBF/WBO unification fight on October 14 in Rosenberg, Texas.

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Lightweight Tevin Farmer knows the game all too well. A sneaky hunter, he became a measuring stick for promoters trying to gauge how their fighters would fare against WBC lightweight champion Shakur Stevenson. Farmer, with his slick defensive style and southpaw attitude, sees a pattern and is ready to prove he is more than just a test case for the next massive name.

On November 16, Farmer (33-6-1, 8 KO) returns to the ring in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, to face Mexican William Zepeda (31-0, 27 KO) in a fight that could make or break his career.

Farmer, a former IBF junior lightweight titleholder, is looking at a close decision loss to Raymond Muratalla – a fighter who, like many, is close to facing Stevenson. Now Farmer faces Zepeda, an aggressive, high-performance fighter who is on a four-fight knockout streak.

The farmer is fully aware of what is at stake. He had been here before, but this time the pressure was greater.

“They say me and Shakur [Stevenson] I have a similar style and I’m the one who wants to see how good Zepeda is to see if he’s ready for Shakur,” Farmer said. “But I promise you it won’t get to Shakur.”

28-year-old Zepeda looks unstoppable, and his last fight ended with a third-round knockout of Giovanni Cabrera. But Farmer, 34, still sees himself as a force to be reckoned with, despite setbacks. After losing the title to Joseph Diaz Jr. in January 2020. Farmer took a three-year hiatus before returning to win three fights in the Northeast. His recent loss to Muratalla was a close call, and now he’s determined to bounce back and clarify how he sees himself.

“I feel like I’m a adolescent veteran,” Farmer said. “I started boxing behind schedule, so I still feel adolescent, but I have a lot of fights ahead of me. I have to go out there and beat the guy that everyone is afraid of, and that’s William Zepeda.”

For Farmer, this fight is more than just another notch on his belt. It’s about regaining your place in the sport – or maybe leaving for good.

“The last fight was a do-or-die decision for me, but unfortunately it didn’t go my way,” Farmer said. “This time it’s really a matter of do or die. We come to put on a show.”

Naoya Inoue and Sam Goodman are finalizing an agreement to fight on December 24 in Tokyo for Inoue’s undisputed junior featherweight title, sources told ESPN on Thursday.

The fight will be broadcast on ESPN+ on Christmas Eve morning in the US

Inoue, the third-ranked pound-for-pound boxer on ESPN, will face the Australian for the second year in a row. The Japanese star, known as “The Monster,” scored a seventh-round TKO against TJ Doheny last month.

According to ESPN BET, Inoue (28-0, 25 KO) was a -6500 favorite against Doheny, and while he will have a good chance of beating Goodman, the odds won’t be that high. Goodman (19-0, 8 KO) is ranked the No. 4 junior featherweight by ESPN and has proven his mettle with wins over fellow title challengers Ra’eese Aleem and Doheny.

The 25-year-old Goodman is coming off a July decision victory over Thai rival Thachtana Luangphon.

Inoue’s second defense of his undisputed world title will be his third fight this year and he will fulfill another mandatory obligation. The 31-year-old will have one more mandatory defense after the match against Murodjon Akhmadaliev from Uzbekistan.

Inoue, a future Hall of Famer, has not competed in the U.S. since June 2021, but is scheduled to return to fight stateside next year.