Janibek Alimkhanuly comes home to defend his IBF and WBO middleweight titles against Anauel Ngamissengue at Barys Arena in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Bob Arum’s Top Rank promote Janibek vs Ngamissengue and ESPN+ televise in the USA.
Janibek (16-0, 11 KOs) will hope that 2025 is the year that he attracts the big names to fight him, as he has outclassed lower-level opposition in his last few outings.
The 32-year-old southpaw won the interim WBO belt in 2022, blasting Danny Dignum out in two rounds, and after being upgraded to full champion, he took a competitive points win over Denzel Bentley.
A two-round blowout of Steven Butler followed, before he ruthlessly added the IBF strap in October 2023, stopping Vincenzo Gualtieri in six.
‘Qazaq Style’ was last seen in October, breaking down and dominating Andrei Mikhailovich, before ending matters in round nine to defend his gold.
Ngamissengue (14-0, 9 KOs) isn’t expected to provide a stern test, and can count himself quite fortunate to be challenging for unified world titles.
The Frenchman has only fought one scheduled 10 rounder, and has never been past eight rounds.
In 2023, the 29-year-old scraped past Fiodor Czerkaszyn via majority decision, and he was last out last June, taking a third round win over journeyman Sandro Jajanidze in France.
Prediction: Janibek is a level above his opponent, and that should show here. I expect the champion to get the job done around the halfway mark.
Zaurkbek faces Fuzile
Sultan Zaurbek looks to close in on a maiden world title shot when he faces former world champion, Azinga Fuzile.
Zaurbek (19-0, 13 KOs), who is ranked at three with the WBA behind champion, Lamont Roach, won three times in 2024, the last outing a unanimous decision victory against Damian Wrzesinski last December.
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Fuzile (18-2, 12 KOs), who has won three times in his native South Africa since losing his IBF world title on points to Kenichi Ogawa in 2021.
Prediction: Zaurbek should outscore Fuzile.
Jalolov returns
Two-time Olympic Gold medallist, Bakhodir Jalolov (14-0, 14 KOs) also makes an appearance on this card, and the talented heavyweight should be able to take the early route once again to dispatch Ihor Shevadzutskyi (12-2, 10 KOs) in their scheduled ten-rounder.
The Ukrainian did take Kubrat Pulev all twelve rounds last March.
Remaining Undercard
At super lightweight, Batyrzhan Jukembayev (23-1, 17 KOs) has won five on the spin since retiring after eight rounds against Subriel Matias in 2021, and he should have too much for Lancashire’s Kane Gardner (17-4, 7 KOs) in their meeting, likely taking a clear win on the scorecards.
In eight rounders, Otabek Kholmatov (12-1, 11 KOs) returns after losing his WBA featherweight world title against Ray Ford when ahead on two cards in the final round, and the featherweight should be able to stop Jason Canoy Manigos (30-12-2, 20 KOs) here.
Bantamweight prospect Balaussa Muzdiman (6-0, 5 KOs) should get the better of Maria Theresa Pinili (7-1, 2 KOs) on points.
In six round contests, Makhmud Sabyrkhan can debut with a points win at super bantamweight against Colombia’s unbeaten Nicolas Tordecilla (2-0, 2 KOs), and fellow debutant Torekhan Sabyrkhan can win early in his welterweight contest with Jiri Hauke (4-6, 2 KOs).
In four round action, Alisher Abdulalim (3-0, 2 KOs) should win inside schedule against Ashish Chaudhary (3-0) at super welterweight, and welterweight novice Akniet Alimbay (2-0, 1 KO) can do the same against Josef Dubsky (1-0, 1 KO).
