The WBO boxing sanctioning body has ordered a mandatory title bout between WBO Middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, and the nr.1 contender in the WBO rankings, Liam Smith. After Smith came off a victory against Chris Eubank Jr. in January, he was quickly moved to the top of the rankings and the WBO clearly saw him fit as a worthy challenger for Janibek given the fight has been mandated.
The teams of both fighters will have until the 14th of March to reach an agreement. If a deal cannot be arranged beforehand, the fight will go to purse bids. Purse bids are a not a thoroughly complicated concept, and can most simply be described as the highest bidder – in most cases a promoter – gaining the opportunity to promote such a fight. With promoter Ben Shalom representing Smith (33-3-1, 20 KO’s), and Bob Arum representing Janibek (13-0, 8 KO’s), both will therefore need to come to an agreement within 19 days (from now) if they do not want another promoter to step in and promote the show instead – which would mean a loss of revenue for either of these promoters.
The WBO has set the minimum acceptable bid at an amount of $200,000, meaning that the two parties of both fighters will have to negotiate a split between that amount (or more, if it goes to purse bids) before the March 14.
Janibek Alimkhanuly, a former Olympic quarter-finalist, has had just thirteen bouts in his professional career but greatly impressed due to his tendency to fight credible opponents right out of the gate after making his pro debut. With his resume featuring wins over boxers with winning records, Janibek quickly cruised to the top of the rankings to eventually win the WBO interim world title by knocking out the then-undefeated Middleweight contender, Danny Dignum (14-1-1, 8 KO’s), by knockout in 2022. After being promoted not long after to full champion status, Janibek went on to defend his title (for the first time) against another noteworthy British fighter in Denzel Bentley (17-2-1, 14 KO’s) who he beat by unanimous decision after a series of tough rounds.
Liam Smith, older brother of Light-Heavyweight contender Callum Smith (29-1, 21 KO’s), has made a resurgence in recent years at 160 lbs after years of failing to recapture the WBO world title at Super Welterweight following his knockout loss to Canelo Alvarez (58-2-2, 39 KO’s). He did manage to become the WBO interim champion in 2017 by beating Liam Williams, but his title was soon vacated and two further losses to Jaime Munguia and Magomed Kurbanov – in 2018 and 2021 respectively – seemed to derail his career.
Since moving up to Middleweight in September of 2022 and scoring a decisive victory against 160 lbs opponent Hassan Mwakinyo, Smith’s trend has been curving upwards of late, especially when he beat Chris Eubank Jr. (32-3, 23 KO’s) – son of the legendary Chris Eubank and a credible boxer himself. He is now granted the opportunity to take his career to the next level and net a crucial title-winning victory against one of the quickest-rising boxers in the sport in Janibek Alimkhanuly.
