The head of the Top Rank promotional company, Bob Arum, is confident that his ward, a rising star from Kazakhstan and the newly minted WBO middleweight champion (up to 72.6 kg) Zhanibek Alimkhanuly (12-0, 8 KOs) will soon establish himself as the best fighter of the division .
“I would bet on Zhanibek against any middleweight in the world,” says Arum. “He is a southpaw with incredible power and will rule this division for a very long time.”
Recall that Alimkhanuly became a full-fledged champion without a fight, after the former title holder, American Demetrius Endred, went one category higher, since the fight against Zhanibek did not attract him at all.
The Kazakhstani offers Andred to fight later: “Demetrius was not interested in fighting me, but I wanted our fight because I know that I would knock him out. He ran to super middleweight to avoid our fight. But don’t worry, Demetrius. We can fight after I unify all middleweight titles.”
“The middleweight nightmare is here to stay! Now I am a world champion and I will continue to show that Kazakh-style is the best style,” Zhanibek added for reliability.
Alimkhanuly previously promised to become the undisputed middleweight champion, and also assured that he would easily deal with the current WBC title holder Jarmall Charlo.
