Janibek Alimkhanuly (also spelled as Zhanibek Alimkhanuly,[2] born 1 April 1993) is a Kazakhprofessional boxer and unifiedmiddleweight champion who has held the WBO title since 2022, and the IBF title since October 2023. As an amateur, he won gold medals at the 2013 World Championships, 2013 Asian Championships and 2014 Asian Games. He also represented Kazakhstan at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the middleweight division, losing in the quarter-finals.[3] He won the WBO Interim middleweight title on May 21, 2022, before being elevated to full champion on August 30, 2022, and he then won the IBF title on October 14, 2023.
Early life
Alimkhanuly began boxing at the age of six because of his father and grandfather's love of the sport. His first fight was at six and he lost that match.[4]
Professional career
Early career
Alimkhanuly made his professional debut against Milton Núñez, a former opponent of Alimkhanuly's fellow countryman Gennady Golovkin,[5] on 29 October 2016 in his home city of Almaty, Kazakhstan. He won the bout via first-round technical knockout.[6]
Ahead of his fight with Issah Samir on 21 March 2020, the world was struck with COVID-19. Alimkhanuly's fight was canceled but he said it's not a big deal that his bout was canceled and that there were more pressing concerns. "We just lost the fight date, someone lost the family. It’s not easy. We will fight when everything calms down but nobody will not return them to their family. I wish all patients a quick recovery.”[7]
Alimkhanuly faced the former two-time world middleweight champion Hassan N'Dam N'Jikam on 20 November 2021, on the Terence Crawford vs. Shawn Porter undercard.[10] He won the fight by an eight-round technical knockout. Alimkhanuly was ahead on the scorecards at the time of the stoppage (with scores of 70–62, 70–62 and 70–61) and had knocked N'Jikam down in the third round.[11]
WBO middleweight champion
Alimkhanuly vs. Dignum
On 30 November 2021, the WBO ordered their middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade to make a mandatory title defense against Alimkhanuly.[12] Three months later, on 21 March 2022, the sanctioning body allowed Andrade to move up in weight and face Zach Parker for the interim super middleweight title instead, while allowing him to keep the middleweight championship as well.[13] Andrade later withdrew from the fight, as he suffered a right shoulder injury during training camp.[14] As such, Alimkhanuly faced the undefeated Danny Dignum for the vacant WBOinterim middleweight title on 21 May 2022, in the main event of an ESPN broadcast card, which took place at the Resorts World Event Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.[15] He made quick work of his opponent, stopping Dignum with an uppercut near the end of the second round. Alimkhanuly landed 21 of 33 power punches and 34 of 94 overall, while Dignum managed to land only 6 out of 45 total punches.[16]
On 20 July 2022, the WBO once again ordered Andrade to defend his title against Alimkhanuly, giving the pair 30 days to come to terms.[17] Andrade officially vacated his middleweight title on 30 August. Alimkhanuly was promoted to the WBO Champion that same day.[18]
Alimkhanuly vs. Bentley
On 22 September 2022, it was revealed that Alimkhanuly would make a voluntary title defense against the #14 ranked WBO middleweight contender Denzel Bentley. The title bout was booked as the headliner of an ESPN+ broadcast card, which took place at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 12, 2022.[19][20] Alimkhanuly retained his title by unanimous decision, with two judges scoring the bout 116–112 in his favor, while the third judge awarded him a wider scorecard of 118–110.[21] He outlanded Bentley 187 to 159 in total punches and 137 to 125 in power punches, landing 35% of all the strikes he threw, compared to Bentley's 25.9%.[22]
Alimkhanuly vs. Butler
On 20 November 2022, the WBO formally ordered Alimkhanuly to make a mandatory title defense against the former junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia.[23] On 2 December, it was revealed that Munguia's team had declined to proceed with the mandatory title fight.[24] On 22 February 2023, Alimkhanuly was ordered to make a mandatory title defense against the former WBO light-middleweight champion Liam Smith.[25] As Smith was contractually obligated to face Chris Eubank Jr in an immediate rematch, Alimkhanuly instead made his second title defense against the sixth-ranked WBO middleweight contender Steven Butler on 13 May 2023.[26] He won the fight by a second-round knockout.[27]
Unified middleweight champion
Alimkhanuly vs. Gualtieri
Alimkhanuly faced the IBF middleweight titleholderVincenzo Gualtieri in a championship unification bout on October 14, 2023, at the Fort Bend County Epicenter in Rosenberg, Texas.[28][29] Prior to the fight, Alimkhanuly began training with Brian Viloria, having previously trained under Buddy McGirt.[30] In the fifth round, he dazed Gualtieri with a hard left uppercut that he recovered from; after dazing Gualtieri again with a left uppercut in the sixth round, the referee stopped the fight and awarded Alimkhanuly the victory by TKO. With this victory, he became the second boxer from Kazakhstan to earn the unified middleweight championship.[31]
Alimkhanuly vs Mikhailovich
Alimkhanuly was scheduled to face Andrei Mikhailovich on July 13, 2024 in Las Vegas, but the bout fell off after he withdrew due to weight cutting issue.[32][33] On September 18, 2024 it was announced that the fight was rescheduled for October 4, 2024 in Sydney, Australia with the IBF middleweight title on the line.[34] Alimkhanuly won the fight by TKO in the ninth round.[35][36]
Personal life
Alimkhanuly is an avid reader. He enjoys books on nutrition and pottery. He is learning the English language and enjoys watering his plants on weekends.[37]
