Italian ordered to fight unbeaten Briton for vacant world title.
A lot of boxing fans considered Janibek Alimkhanuly the king of the middleweight division and the one to fill the boots of Gennady Golovkin, his fellow Kazakh.
For a while, it looked like that was very much the case. With the exception of Britain’s Denzel Bentley, nobody really challenged Janibek to a notable degree.
In fact, Janibek was considered one of the most avoided fighters in all of boxing, with very few challenges for him at middleweight.
After being upgraded to WBO champion (having won the interim title by knocking out Danny Dignum), Janibek won the IBF by stopping Vincenzo Gualtieri and was set to fight for the WBA title against Erislandy Lara in December.
However, Janibek would test positive for meldonium, a banned substance that collapsed his planned three-belt unification entirely.
As a result, the WBO have issued him a year-long ban, after which he will have to fight the winner of the WBO interim title fight between Denzel Bentley and Endry Saavedra.
The IBF, however, were far less lenient, and they ended up stripping Janibek of their title, with many believing the WBO should follow suit.
Now, according to BoxingScene, the IBF have officially ordered the fight for their vacant title between their #2 and #3 contenders (the #1 spot is vacant).
That mean’s Italy’s Etinosa Oliha (22-0, 10 KOs) will be fighting England’s Shakiel Thompson (15-0, 11 KOs).
Thompson, a 6’3″ southpaw from Sheffield, is currently scheduled to fight Brad Pauls on the Moses Itauma vs. Jermaine Franklin Jr. undercard in two weeks.
This title shot will be highly dependant on Thompson winning against Pauls, which is certainly not a given.
Nevertheless, it is a huge opportunity for the unbeaten Yorkshireman, who will be hoping to add to the list of Sheffield’s world boxing champions.
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