Initially, Janibek Alimkhanuly envisioned himself standing over the lifeless body of Demetrius Andrade as his newly won WBO middleweight title was being fastened around his waist. While things didn't go exactly as he planned, the 29-year-old is satisfied nonetheless.
After bulldozing his competition, Alimkhanuly (12-0, 8 KOs) had successfully worked his way to becoming the mandatory contender in the WBO sanctioning body. Andrade, however, a former two-division world titlist and former WBO 160-pound belt holder, appeared apathetic towards a showdown against the unheralded Kazakhstan star.
In an effort to position himself against more well-known names, Andrade (31-0, 19 KOs) flirted with the idea of moving up in weight, a decision he would officially move forward with just a few days ago. Having held the WBO interim crown following his second-round stoppage victor over Danny Dignum on March 21st, earlier this year, Alimkhanuly begged and pleaded with Andrade to take him up on his offer, something he would ultimately decline.
With Andrade now set to take on England’s Zach Parker for the interim-WBO super middleweight title, Alimkhanuly has now been elevated to full titleholder. As the hard-hitting and loquacious middleweight champion begins his new reign, he’s fully convinced that it won’t take him long to strip the rest of the division’s belt holders of their championship status before eventually moving on to bigger and better things.
“Next year, when I get all four belts, I will fight in the super middleweight division,” said Alimkhanuly on his social media account.
Currently, both Jermall Charlo and Gennadiy Golovkin are the remaining 160-pound belt holders. In the case of Houston’s Charlo, he successfully and proudly defended his WBC strap a total of four times, the latest coming against Juan Macias Montiel in June of 2021. As for Golovkin, outside of his controversial majority decision defeat against Canelo Alvarez in 2018, his record has remained perfect.
Still, even with the top of the middleweight division containing some of the more established and respected champions in all of boxing, Alimkhanuly smiles sinisterly as he believes his middleweight run will go unmatched.
“Remember me! I’m Janibek and I’m a middleweight nightmare!”