Janibek Alimkhanuly Targets IBF Champion Vincenzo Gualtieri for Unification Fight
WBO middleweight champion Janibek “Qazaq Style” Alimkhanuly (14-0, 9KO) has been actively seeking unification. It appears that his attention is now directed towards newly crowned IBF champion Vincenzo Gualtieri (21-0-1, 7KO).
On July 1, Gualtieri surprised boxing fans with a remarkable victory over Esquiva Falcao, winning by unanimous decision. Competing in front of his home crowd in Germany, he outboxed and scored two knockdowns in rounds two and ten against the Brazilian 2012 Olympic Bronze medalist.
For quite some time, Alimkhanuly has asserted himself as the true middleweight king. In addition to that, he has called out WBC champion Jermall Charlo, two-divisional champion Demetrius Andrade, and former WBO junior middleweight champion Jaime Munguia.
Unfortunately, none of those fights ever materialized. Alimkhanuly had hoped to face Falcao, as the two exchanged words on social media. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the WBO champion has now shifted his focus towards Gualtieri.
In 2022, Alimkhanuly faced heavy criticism for an unimpressive performance against Denzel Bentley. However, he quickly regained the boogeyman tag with a statement-making second-round knockout over Steven Butler.
Should Gualtieri accept the challenge, the only potential obstacle in making this fight a reality is the fact that the IBF champion has never fought outside of Germany. The Kazakhstani will either need to be willing to travel for the bout or rely on his promotion company, Top Rank, to entice the IBF champion into fighting in the United States.
As of the writing of this article, Gualtieri has not responded. Let us hope the long-awaited unification match, which has eluded Alimkhanuly thus far, will finally come to fruition.
