The status of a unified champion is one that is craved by so many fighters but achieved by so few, whilst that of an undisputed champion is one that can define a legacy. Now, there is one man closing in on the undisputed crown after picking up two belts with ease, although he has put himself at a major risk of losing it all. The skill of Janibek Alimkhanuly was realised years ago and the Kazakh was quickly deemed as the bogeyman of the middleweight division despite limited experience as a professional. However, in recent times, the middleweight division has been blown wide open after the reigns of Jermall Charlo, Demetrius Andrade and Gennadiy Golovkin were each brought to a close by the respective sanctioning bodies rather than worthy opponents. That left ‘Qazaq’ style well poised in a position to capitalize and pick up the world titles and that is exactly what he has done, being elevated to WBO world champion and then knocking out Vincenzo Gualtieri to add the IBF trinket to his collection. Yet, Alimkhanuly has ran into a new issue that may prevent him from becoming the undisputed champion – his weight.
The 2013 amateur world champion fainted ahead of a title defence against Russian-New Zealander Andrei Mikhailovich due to a strenuous weight cut back in July and caused the bout to be rescheduled for this Friday night in Sydney. Now, the undefeated southpaw is tasked with an additional concern after it was revealed that he will only arrive in Australia on Wednesday, failing to allow his body to adjust to the 17-hour time difference between Sydney and his residence in California. Mikhailovich’s promoter, Marco Rose, admitted that news Alimkhanuly’s seemingly ill-prepared travel arrangements was a ‘shock’, speaking with Fox Sports.
I don’t know if it’s over confidence or a lack of respect for Andrei but I’ve never had an international fighter request to fly here so late…. Normally, they’re arguing with us about trying to get Down Under weeks earlier so that they can shake the jet lag and acclimatise. So I’m absolutely shocked Janibek is only arriving on Wednesday…. Especially given the fact that he’s coming off those issue where he didn’t make weight last time. You’d think you would be doing everything possible to make sure his weight is right this time around because I can assure him, Australia’s scales are the same as the ones he missed on in the US.
Janibek will be dealing with all that jet lag while also trying to cut weight.
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