WBO orders Alimkhanuly to face Sheeraz

Janibek Alimkhanuly satisfied his IBF mandatory obligation by stopping Andrei Mikhailovich over the weekend

Unified middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly’s tiff with the WBO won’t cost him that belt, but he’ll have to defend it soon, as the sanctioning body officially ordered him to face mandatory challenger Hamzah Sheeraz.

The pair have 15 days to negotiate.

If both sides are up for it, this shouldn’t prove difficult to make; Top Rank and Queensberry are frequent collaborators and both men came out of their recent victories, Alimkhanuly (16-0, 11 KO) over Andrei Mikhailovich last weekend and Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KO) over Tyler Denny not long before, without suffering any damage. Though Sheeraz could cash in his WBC silver belt for a crack at Carlos Adames, I can’t imagine that being easier to negotiate.

Assuming they get everything squared away, this is arguably the best fight the division has to offer. Alimkhanuly far outclasses his fellow titlists on paper and Sheeraz has done nothing but impress since his controversial 2021 bout with Bradley Skeete. You could argue that Sheeraz needs more seasoning, but after what he did to Liam and “Ammo” Williams, I don’t think he’d get much benefit from facing anyone else in Top Rank’s or Queensberry’s middleweight rosters.