It was announced today that WBO middleweight world champion Janibek “Qazaq Style” Alimkhanuly (12-0, 8 KOs), who ascended to the full title after the organization’s previous champion Demetrius “Boo Boo” Andrade elected to leave the division, will make the first defense of his world title later this year on a Top Rank on ESPN card.
“Demetrius Andrade had no interest in fighting me,” said Alimkhanuly. “I wanted to fight him because I know I would knock him out. He ran away to super middleweight to avoid fighting me. But don’t worry, Demetrius. After I unify the belts at middleweight, we can fight.”
“The middleweight nightmare is here to stay! Now that I am a world champion, I will continue to show that ‘Qazaq Style’ is the best style.”
“I’d have no issue fighting Jermall Charlo for his WBC title. We are both champions, so let’s unify the belts. Charlo would be easy work for me, and he knows that. Champions should fight other champions. It’s too bad the other so-called ‘champions’ do not feel that way.”
Hall of Fame promoter Bob Arum added, “I would pick Janibek over any middleweight in the world. He is a southpaw with tremendous power and will reign over the division for a very long time.”
Go ahead and shoot your shot Alim and good luck to you…. but with his belt you also inherited Andrade’s curse. There is no chance in hell any of those guys are going to fight you.
Says Alim: “Charlo would be easy work for me, and he knows that.”
Not so sure about that, but I am pretty sure that Charlo will hold out for something bigger. Would love to see Charlo-Alim though. Charlo has a sturdy chin, and will hang around and be dangerous for 12 rounds. No idea what kind of chin Alim has, but assuming it’s decent, I’d take Alim on points. Even with the WBC belt though, Alim still probably wouldn’t be a very attractive opponent for Charlo.
I might lean Alim over Charlo right now as well (assuming, like you said, that Alim can take a shot) but Charlo’s been out over a year and I don’t know when he’s coming back because the WBC is about to have an interim champion for him, so when he does come back that’s probably who he’s fighting first.
Even less people know who Alim is than Andrade. There wouldn’t be big money in that fight and, at least with the way it looks, it’d be a pretty big risk. I think best case scenario for Alim would be Munguia. He turned him down for the interim title, maybe he’ll fight him now for the actual title….. I doubt it though and instead it’ll be the likes of Michael Zerafa and Shane Mosley Jr. for the foreseeable future.
Korobov was the last Southpaw I saw Charlo against. Korobov wasn’t very busy, but he did nail Charlo with several flush left hands in that fight. Seemed Charlo couldn’t get out of that way of that straight left at all. Alim is younger, faster, and would be more active than Korobov. That would be a complicated fight for Charlo.
Alim’s management has to realize that him being a good Kazakh Southpaw with an 8 syllable name is not good for business. They need to come up with something short and easy to remember for the American public. I think people remember Kid Diamond a little easier than Almazbek Raiymkulov, or Bek Bully than Bektemir Rozmatjon Ogli Meliqoziyev. Name recognition is a factor when it comes to the business side of the sport. That, among other things, is a strike against Alim right now. “Qazaq style” doesn’t seem to be catching on. Maybe they can do better.
Kid Diamond! Damn! I remember watching him fight Nate Campbell – Kid Diamond Meets the Galaxy Warrior! Sounds like the title of one of those old awful black and white movies from the 50’s.
I think “Qazaq Style” is what they’re going for with Alim and it seems like they’re going all in on it. I think they did an entire feature on “Qazaq Style” before his last fight on ESPN. Even Golovkin got “GGG” and his name isn’t too difficult by comparison and I don’t know if I’ve ever seen Bek’s full name printed out like that. That is terrifying. I’d also mention that “Knockout CP Freshmart” is a lot easier to recall than Thammanoon Niyomtrong lol.
Korobov definitely did land on Charlo and he isn’t a puncher. If Alim lands those shots, Charlo loses that fight.
I would also add Kid Akeem as opposed to Akeem Anifowoshe. It absolutely makes a difference on the marketing side of things. Janibek (or Zhanibek according to boxrec) Alimkhanuly is just going to be confused with other Kazakh/Uzbek fighters. Too many syllables for many Americans I guess. Hopefully the Qazaq Style thing works for him as well as some of the ones you mentioned…
Lucie: thats the damn truth. Guaranteed Charlo and his team start running their mouth and trying to set it up only to be scrapped due to injury OR promotional “agreement” problems like the ones that always happen when its a tough fight for him
Paper champ that had the belt handed to him, hasn’t beat no body…..oh wait Boo Boo 2.0
Andrade coward…