IBF middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly and challenger Andrei Mikhailovich made weight today ahead of their main event on ESPN+ on Friday, October 4 in Sydney, Australia.

Janibek predicts a first-round knockout of undefeated IBF No. 3 Mikhailovich. They were supposed to meet last July, but Janibek had to pull out after suffering severe dehydration while trying to gain weight.

Scales:

Janibek Alimkhanuly 159.5 pounds
Andrei Mikhailovich 160

Janibek (15-0, 10 KO) will defend his IBF title against Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KO) at The Star in Sydney, Australia. The event starts at 5:00 ET/2:00 PT.

Mikhailovich vows to “kill” Janibek

“It’s demanding to get into fights, but soon the world will know who I am, and I’m very excited about it,” said Andrei Mikhailovich during the gala last press conference. “I will win. There is no doubt about it and the king returns home.

“I already feel like a champion. I feel great about myself. I think the most critical thing is that I walk down the street like I’m already a champion. I’m frigid, whatever it is. I expect to be here. I expect to fight champions. This is what I do. That’s what I mean. I’m looking forward to work on Friday. I’ll kill you.”

“Tomorrow will be a very hard day for you. I’ll show you what I’m going to do,” Janibek said.

“I’m excited,” Mikhailovich said. “Do you know what jetlag is? Do you know what water loss is? Do you know what happens to your skull when you are dehydrated? It is like a layer of water that protects the brain from the skull. Without this and without a good liver, these blows will hurt.

“Those hits to the liver are going to be really painful. This temple will collapse. Good luck, soldier.

“I’m not used to this kind of nonsense. I come from top-class players,” said Egis Klimas, Janibek’s manager.

On Saturday evening, NICK Ball will headline the gala at the Echo Arena in Liverpool, where he will make the first defense of the WBA featherweight title. American Ronny Rios arrives as a title challenger. “Wrecking” Ball became a fan favorite due to his explosive striking style and ability to apply pressure.

Ball’s fight with Ray Ford was a classic fight, which he won by split decision in Riyad. Rios is a competent fighter, but he has been stopped in three of his four losses and will wait to be hit. That’s why it’s tough to look beyond stopping the ball, perhaps after a brief penalty shootout.

It will be a tough challenge for Ronny, who was absent from the ring for nearly two years as a 122-pounder before Nicolas Polanco stopped the fight in the fifth round in April.

It’s tough to find any argument for Rios to last the distance, let alone win the competition. In 2019, he actually pulled off a bit of a surprise, beating prospect Diego De La Hoya 21-0 in six rounds. However, he performed terribly against better boys.

Both teams have a common opponent. Ball drew with Rey Vargas two fights ago, and Rios lost to Vargas by unanimous decision in 2017. After each defeat, Rios always found a way back to the world’s top ranks, but was never able to win there.

Boxing news betting tips

Nick Ball will win by KO/TKO in rounds 5-8, 13/8

Nick Ball will win the fight/under 7.5 rounds @ 5/6

Gamble responsibly: GambleAware

Janibek Alimkhanuly not only stepped on the scale this time, but passed the scale comfortably.

The unified 160-pound title weighed 159 ½ pounds, while mandatory IBF title challenger Andrei Mikhailovich weighed 159.9 pounds. Their fight will headline Friday’s ESPN+ show on The Star in Sydney, Australia.

Both fighters must still pass day two of the IBF hydration check, during which they must weigh no more than 170 pounds. IBF regulations require that participants in title and elimination fights weigh no more than 10 pounds over the established limit when weighing in on fight day.

Kazakhstan’s Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 knockout) is the IBF WBO champion. However, Fresh Zealander Mihajłowicz (21-0, 13 KO) refused to fight for the WBO title and has only a chance to win the IBF belt.

Alimkhanuly will retain both titles if he wins. A defeat would see Mikhailovich take home the IBF title, while the WBO belt would remain vacant.

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.

Mikhajłowicz (21-0, 13 KO) starts his first title fight in his career. The timing means he will fight for one belt instead of two, although it was presumed the tactic was intentional this time. Under IBF rules, unified world titles are not subject to weight control on the same day, but only when more than one title is at stake. This is not the case here, which resulted in Alimkhanuly and Mikhailovich being bound by IBF rules to the letter of the law.

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