Hamzah Sheeraz vacates WBO super middleweight title

Gustavo Olivieri, president of the WBO, has announced that Hamzah Sheeraz has vacated his super-middleweight title rather than face mandatory challenger Zhanibek Alimkhanuly.

On Wednesday, Sheeraz’s promoters, Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions, won a purse bid for the rights to stage a fight between Sheeraz and his mandatory challenger Zhanibek Alimkhanuly with a bid of $1,001,809, to best  Alimkhanuly's promoter Top Rank's bid of $820,000.

As champion, Sheeraz would have pocketed 75 per cent ($751,356.75). 

However, today, Olivieri has made it official that the fight will not happen.

“The WBO confirms that Queensberry Promotions has formally notified in writing that Hamzah Sheeraz, per the terms resulting from the purse bid proceedings concerning his mandatory obligation against Zhanibek Alimkhanuly, has elected NOT to proceed with the Mandatory and has voluntarily relinquished his WBO Super Middleweight World Championship,” wrote Olivieri on his X account. 

Before the purse bid even happened, Sheeraz had been vocal about his opposition to the fight, questioning Alimkhanuly’s (who recently finished serving a suspension for PED, hasn’t competed above the middleweight limit since 2019 and has been inactive since April 2025) worthiness to be his mandatory challenger, also citing the possibility for relatively low pay compared to the size of the assignment. 

"I believe it's going to come to a point where the money is going to be considerably low for the biggest fight of my career,” Sheeraz told The Ring. “To me, it doesn't really make sense, especially being a champion as well... It could be a good offer, I'm praying it is and then it's simple, the fight goes ahead. But I have a funny feeling it won't be, we'll see what happens."

Olivieri went on to say the WBO harbors no ill will to the now ex-champion Sheeraz and will make a decision on how best to fill the newly vacant title on Monday.

“The WBO acknowledges and respects the decision of Hamzah and his team. The WBO doors will always remain open to him, and we sincerely wish Hamzah and his team all the very best and continued success moving forward. 

“The WBO World Championship Committee will render the applicable ruling on Monday, September 21, regarding the status of the WBO Super Middleweight World Championship and the division moving forward.”