Janibek Alimkhanuly was at least in the right neighborhood, even if presented with a familiar scenario.
Failed talks with current WBC 160lbs titleholder Carlos Adames turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the Kazakh southpaw, who still wound up with a unification bout. The unbeaten IBF and WBO middleweight ruler and his team were able to make good use of their time spent with Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) officials, which led to his next opportunity.
Relatively smooth talks with the same team on behalf of WBA titlist Erislandy Lara resulted in Alimkhanuly, 17-0 (12 KOs) landing a three-belt unification bout.
“We’ve been in a lot of talks back and forth,” Egis Klimas, Alimkhanuly’s manager, told BoxingScene during a virtual press conference. “I believe that Adames decided that he was not going to fight Janibek at any point.
“My own personal opinion, he didn’t want to fight Janibek and risk losing his title.”
Fortunately for their side, the 42-year-old Lara, 31-3-3 (19 KOs) never expressed any such concern.
“Since we were already working with PBC, we made a nice arrangement and agreement to put this fight together,” noted Klimas.
Lara - a two-division titlist and long-reigning WBA 160lbs titleholder - jumped at the opportunity to prove that he, and not Alimkhanuly, deserves to be called the world’s best current middleweight. They will have the chance to plead their case as an attractive co-feature to the December 6 PBC on Prime Video Pay-Per-View event. Their scheduled 12-round bout will take place at Frost Bank Center, home to the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.
“Of course, I want to thank Erislandy Lara for taking this opportunity when nobody else would,” noted Alimkhanuly. “As everyone knows, I’m always talking about unifying all the titles and becoming undisputed champion at middleweight.
“I need all four belts. One of the belts is held by Lara, so that is why we are fighting on December 6.”
Alimkhanuly has spent more than a year feuding with Adames, 24-1-1 (18 KOs) on social media, only for multiple rounds of talks to die at the negotiating table. He waited out a February 22 clash between Adames and Hamzah Sheeraz – a leading challenger for Alikhanuly’s WBO title – which ended in a disputed 12-round draw.
Sheeraz has since moved up to the 168lbs division, while Adames’ 2025 campaign will be one-and-done.
Alimkhanuly moved on to a homecoming clash with unbeaten French Congolese contender Anauel Ngamissengue. Their April 5 clash was one-sided, and ended with Alimkhanuly delivering an emphatic 5th round stoppage win in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Then came the waiting game with Adames, before his team moved on to an opponent actually willing to face Alimkhanuly.
It says a lot about Lara that he is willing to take the fight while coming off yet another lengthy layoff.
The Cuban export has not fought since a 9th round knockout of former two-division titlist Danny Garcia last September 14 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The feat came five months after Lara tore through overmatched mandatory challenger Michael Zerafa inside of two rounds last March 30, also in Las Vegas.
It marked a rare two-fight campaign for Lara, his first since the pandemic and after he didn’t fight at all in 2023.
He nearly went all of 2025 without a fight as well, until PBC turned to him following the letdown in piecing together Alimkhanuly-Adames.
“I wasn’t really confident per se; it was just a matter of waiting patiently and seeing what shook out,” Lara told BoxingScene of landing the fight. “I trusted my promoter, my team to let me know when this was going to happen, and if it was going to happen.
“No matter what, I was going to be ready for whatever came next to me.”
Alimkhanuly-Lara is part of a four-fight PPV event topped by the Isaac Cruz-Lamont Roach Jnr WBC interim 140lbs title fight.
