IBF and WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly says he’s occupied with preventing a unification match in opposition to WBA champ Erislandy Lara subsequent.
Janibek (16-0, 11 KOs) has come up empty along with his hopes of getting fights in opposition to Hamzah Sheeraz, Chris Eubank Jr. and WBC champion Carlos Adames. None of these fighters have proven any need to struggle the 2016 Olympian Janibek, and it’s fairly apparent why. Janibek is the King of the division, and so they know what they’d be up in opposition to preventing him.
The 41-year-old Erislandy Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs) might not wish to struggle Janibek both, as he’s obtained a very good factor going, holding the WBA 160-lb title and defending it in opposition to comfortable opposition. Lara can be risking having these simple paydays evaporate if he misplaced his WBA title to Alimkhanuly.
A Match Made In Riyadh?
With out Turki Alalshikh stepping in to indicate curiosity in financing the Janibek vs. Lara struggle for considered one of his Riyadh Season occasions, it received’t occur. Lara isn’t going to surrender his WBA title by preventing Alimkhanuly and getting knocked out by him.
Though he’s not getting the mega-paydays that guys like Canelo Alvarez and Edgar Berlanga are receiving, Lara remains to be making good cash by defending his WBA belt in opposition to middle-of-the-road opposition.
Lara’s Reign Of Simple Defenses
Lara captured his WBA 160-lb title on Might 1, 2021, stopping Thomas LaManna within the first spherical. Within the Cuban Erislandy’s three profitable title defenses since, he’s crushed these fighters:
– Danny Garcia: RTD 9
– Michael Zerafa: TKO 2
– Gary ‘Spike’ O’Sullivan: TKO8
The chance of the southpaw Lara agreeing to struggle Janibek in a unification struggle is mightily slim as a result of he’s too outdated to be taking over a fighter of this caliber. Lara turns 42 on April 11, 2025, and he’s solely holding on now as a result of matchmaking that’s been completed for him.
Erislandy hasn’t fought in a tricky struggle since his wars with Brian Castano and Jarrett Hurd, which came about in 2019 and 2018, which could as effectively have been a lifetime in the past.
What do you consider Lara? Will he struggle me? Or will he run away too?
— Janibek Alimkhanuly (@qazaqstyle) December 17, 2024
