Janibek Alimkhanuly: Middleweight’s Avoided King

IBF and WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly has been trying to get a unification fight against WBC champion Carlos Adames but hasn’t had any luck in getting that fight.

Alimkhanuly’s Call-Outs Ignored

Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KOs) has repeatedly called out Adames but has made no progress with his efforts. At this point, it’s a waste of Janibek’s time and beneath his dignity to continue to call out Adames because there’s clearly no interest. It makes him look desperate and without any other options to continue chasing this fight.

Middleweight’s “Who Needs Him”

The Middleweight’s “Who Needs Him” Olympic bronze medalist, Alimkhanuly, is in the ‘who needs him’ club, given his lack of popularity and the danger he presents to all the fighters at 160. The opposition that Janibek, 32, has been beating over the last five years has been obscure fighters who weren’t well-known enough to give him a career boost after defeating them.

The top names at 160

Carlos Adames
Erislandy Lara
Yoenli Hernandez
Austin Williams
Denzel Bentley

The best of that bunch is WBA middleweight champion Erislandy Lara, but he’s 42 and rarely fights. It’s questionable whether Janibek could get a unification match against him. Even if he could get that fight and beat him, he wouldn’t get credit for the victory due to his age.

Janibek: Move Up to 168

What Janibek should do is vacate his belts and move up to 168 to go after the bigger names in this weight class. He would be giving up a lot of size to some of the fighters, but he has the power and technical skills to compete in this division.

Getting fights wouldn’t be as difficult as it is now for Alimkhanuly. If he chooses to stay at middleweight, he’ll likely waste his best years, fighting no-names for smaller purses, and will miss out on all the big fights that are available at 168. He’s got the talent to beat super middleweights like Edgar Berlanga, Hamzah Sheeraz, Caleb Plant, Lester Martinez, and Jaime Munguia.

Janibek will likely continue to be ignored and avoided by the top names in this barren division, which now lacks marquee names following the departures of Canelo, Golovkin, and Jermall Charlo.

Janibek’s Last 3 Opponents

Anauel Ngamissengue
Andrei Mikhailovich
Vincenzo Gualtieri

I need wbc and wba titles 😤 pic.twitter.com/Ahrg2q3KL9

— Janibek Alimkhanuly (@qazaqstyle) July 6, 2025

Did you see that? He disappeared! Normally, he’s very active on Twitter! Now he doesn’t even respond! I know why! He doesn’t know what to say. Because he has a contract in his hands. And he’s not signing it

— Janibek Alimkhanuly (@qazaqstyle) July 5, 2025