Unified middleweight champion facing suspension following positive drug test.
Janibek Alimkhanuly is one of the most consistently violent fighters in boxing. Winning the WBO interim middleweight title with a harrowing knockout over Danny Dignum in 2022, he has gone on to collect the IBF title since to become unified champion.
With the exception of his close decision over Denzel Bentley, every defence Janibek has made has looked like a rabid animal being let free from its cage to feed on its prey. Steven Butler, Andrei Mikhailovich, and Anauel Ngamissengue were all bowled over as if they had been going one-on-one with a bulldozer.
Suddenly, it appeared that Kazakhstan had a new middleweight terror following Gennady Golovkin’s silent retirement from the sport.
When Janibek was matched up with WBA champion Erislandy Lara on the undercard of Lamont Roach Jr.’s fight with Isaac Cruz in December, he was favoured to come out as a three-belt champion. Lara, a surefire future Hall-of-Famer, was nonetheless 42 years old, and Janibek’s freshness and ferocity was expected to prevail.
Maybe it would have. Only, we’ll never find out, as Janibek tested positive for the banned substance meldonium and was forced to withdraw from the bout.
Following those events, it has taken a while for us to hear any follow-up news. Until today, that is.
Gustavo Olivieri, president of the World Boxing Organisation (“WBO”) has now confirmed on his personal Twitter account that Janibek has received a retroactive one-year ban from the date of his failed test, meaning he will be cleared to fight again on the 2nd of December of this year.
Rather than being stripped of his title, Janibek will instead be ordered to face the WBO interim champion, which is to be the winner of the contest announced earlier today between Janibek’s old foe Denzel Bentley and Venezuela’s Endry Saavedra.
Re: WBO Middleweight Champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly
1. The WBO World Championship Committee hereby informs that, on yesterday’s date, it unanimously resolved to suspend Middleweight Champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly from participation in all boxing and/or exhibition events for a…
— Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. (@OlivieriLaw) February 20, 2026
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