Talks stall between Janibek Alimkhanuly and unlikely challenger Shakiel Thompson
Jan 31, 2025 • 1:57 PM ET
Stacey M SnyderTalks between IBF and WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly and Englishman Shakiel Thompson have hit a stalemate.
The money on offer for the 13-0 (9 KOs) Thompson, who is No. 9 with the WBO, was not enough and a source close to the Sheffield southpaw said Thompson has been advised to take a different route.
There had been hopes that Thompson might take on the Kazakh star in a homecoming for the champion in the spring.
Thompson stormed the ratings last year with a third-round victory over River Wilson-Bent in Sheffield in September, and he is due to have his first fight of 2025 next Friday night, against 17-5-1 (14 KOs) Hamisi Maya, on a show promoted by GBM and televised on DAZN.
The bout takes place at the Canon Medical Arena in Sheffield.
Tris Dixon covered his first amateur boxing fight in 1996. The former editor of Boxing News, he has written for a number of international publications and newspapers, including GQ and Men’s Health, and is a board member for the Ringside Charitable Trust and the Ring of Brotherhood. He has been a broadcaster for TNT Sports and hosts the popular “Boxing Life Stories” podcast. Dixon is a British Boxing Hall of Famer, an International Boxing Hall of Fame elector, a BWAA award winner, and is the author of five boxing books, including “Damage: The Untold Story of Brain Trauma in Boxing” (shortlisted for the William Hill Sportsbook of the Year), “Warrior: A Champion’s Search for His Identity” (shortlisted for the Sunday Times International Sportsbook of the Year) and “The Road to Nowhere: A Journey Through Boxing’s Wastelands.” You can reach him @trisdixon on X and Instagram.
