Janibek Alimkhanuly sees the vacant WBO super middleweight title as his route to Canelo Alvarez. Winning it will not be enough. He needs a violent performance that gives boxing fans a reason to demand the unification.
“Everyone knows I’m not interested in the money. I’m ready! I’m also ready to see the news that he’s vacating the title. I just need that title. Then I have to unify with Canelo. That’s it!”
Janibek posted that message on X last Thursday following the purse bid for his ordered fight with Hamzah Sheeraz. Queensberry won with an offer of $1,001,809, but Sheeraz surrendered the WBO title shortly afterward. Janibek returned Monday with another message: “Brother, why not Janibek vs Canelo? 😎”
The WBO must first choose his opponent. Diego Pacheco and Jacob Bank are among the leading candidates, and Pacheco would make Janibek earn every bit of his new position. The 6’4″ contender has the reach, power, and natural size to test whether Janibek’s punch resistance belongs at 168.
Janibek cannot merely edge Pacheco from the outside. He would need to cut off the ring, close the distance, and stop a younger super middleweight to prove his power traveled with him.
Even then, the business case works against him. Canelo has never allowed sanctioning bodies to control his schedule. David Benavidez had an interim belt, substantial public support, and years of pressure behind him. None of it produced the fight.
Janibek offers even less commercial incentive. He is a dangerous southpaw with heavy hands and extensive amateur schooling, but he lacks a large American pay-per-view audience. That makes him a severe physical risk without the purse Canelo expects from taking one.
Canelo has defeated southpaws Billy Joe Saunders and John Ryder since his difficult 2014 fight with Erislandy Lara. Janibek presents a different version of that stance. He is more compact, hits harder, and looks for damaging counters instead of surviving through movement. Canelo must also defeat WBC champion Christian Mbilli on October 31. At 36, Canelo is nearing the final stage of his career and will favor stadium events, major paydays, and carefully selected farewell fights over collecting every available belt.
Janibek cannot force his way onto that schedule. Knocking out a credible WBO opponent would at least make leaving him off much harder to defend. Taking on Pacheco, Sadjo, or Bank for the vacant strap means Janibek must instantly solve elite 168-pounders without a warm-up bout.
The odds of both men surviving those respective hurdles to meet in a unification clash look slim. Alvarez facing Mbilli after a full year out of the ring is a risky fight for a superstar on the decline. Against Terence Crawford, Canelo looked heavy, flat-footed, and completely devoid of the sharp reaction time that once made his upper-body movement and counter-punching elite-grade.
Mbilli is the worst stylistic matchup for someone in Canelo’s state: he is relentless, throws punches in volume from awkward angles, and doesn’t care about taking shots to land his own. Canelo is not suddenly going to regain the lateral movement or snap needed to keep Mbilli off him for twelve rounds.
The division jump from 160 to 168 pounds is brutal for Janibek. At middleweight, he could intimidate opponents with power and technical skills. At super middleweight, he’ll face naturally bigger, harder-hitting, and far more seasoned opponents than anyone on his middleweight record.
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