Janibek Alimkhanuly will defend his IBF middleweight title against #3 contender Andrei Mikhailovich on Friday, October 4, at a Top Rank-promoted event at The Star in Sydney, Australia.
The unbeaten Janibek (15-0, 10 KOs) will be fighting at Mikhailovich’s place in Australia and will not be applauded by the Aussie fans for his performance. That makes it important for Kazakhstan-born Janibek to go the rounds in one direction and score a knockout.
“Everyone knows and understands that it is an easy job for me. I will get him out quickly,” said Janibek about Mikhailovich.
Top Rank wants to turn Janibek into a star, but they have a lot of work to do before that happens. What’s missing is fighting these fighters: Carlos Adames, Erislandy Lara, Hamzah Sheeraz, and Chris Eubank Jr.
If Janibek could beat rising star Sheeraz, it would help. However, Top Rank’s chance of convincing promoters to match Sheeraz with a puncher as dangerous as Janibek is slim. They won’t because he’s too good, and Sheeraz has shown a problem with his ability to take a hard punch.
The middleweight division doesn’t have any talented fighters right now. Janibek is stuck fighting nameless guys to increase his starting power, and that’s not a good way to level up.
The event of Janibek vs. Mikhailovich will be shown live on ESPN+ this Friday, October 4. The start time is as follows: 5:00 am ET / 10:00 am The UK.
Not much attention was paid to the fight between the 31-year-old Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 KOs) and his opponent Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KOs). Perhaps the main reason for that is that he is not well known in the US
Although 2016 Olympian Janibek is considered by many to be the #1 champion in the middleweight division, he has yet to beat any of the top fighters to gain the fame he needs to be recognized in the States and around the world.
Mikhailovich was born in Russia and lives and fights in Australia. His best wins came against Les Sherrington, Ernesto España, and Edison Saltarin.
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