Unified middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly puts his WBO and IBF titles on the line against undefeated challenger Andrei Mikhailovich in a scheduled 12-round fight set for Saturday, July 13 in Las Vegas. This will be the first defense of the unified titles for Alimkhanuly after he won the IBF crown with a sixth round TKO of previously unbeaten Vincenzo Gualtieri last October. Another title fight with outrageous odds has the champ as a -1500 favorite on the early boxing betting line.
With six more professional victories and the same number of defeats as the champ, it turns out that Mikhailovich has a better record. Alas, it’s all about who you fight to get that record, similar to strength of schedule metric in football. The professional record is impressive with wins in all 21 of his fights, but Mikhailovich has yet to fight an opponent ranked inside the top 15 on any of boxing’s four major sanctioning organizations. I guess that’s why the Russian-born fighter is a +800 underdog on the early line.
Janibek Alimkhanuly vs. Andrei Mikhailovich Betting Odds
Janibek Alimkhanuly -1500
Andrei Mikhailovich +800
The 12-round middleweight title fight between WBO and IBF champion Janibek Alimkhanuly ( 15-0, 10 KOs ) and Andrei Mikhailovich ( 21-0, 13 KOs ) will take place on Saturday, July 13, 2024 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, NV. The fight will air live on ESPN.
Janibek Alimkhanuly vs. Andrei Mikhailovich Fight Preview
Time-wise it took Alimkhanuly nearly three years to start punching for tiles. In terms of the number of fights it was a lot less. In only his sixth professional fight Alimkhanuly scored a unanimous decision over Cristian Olivas to claim a regional tile and has been fighting for belts ever since. And since he’s yet to lose Alimkhanuly has a number of titles on his resume.
Beating former two-time middleweight champ Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam in 2021 put Alimkhanuly on the radar and earned him a bout with WBO champ Demetrius Andrade. However, Andrade moved up a weight class and maintained his title thus setting up a bout between Alimkhanuly and undefeated Danny Dignum for the vacant WBO title. It was a short fight with Alimkhanuly landing a jaw-rattling uppercut near the end of the second round. Again, a bout with Andrade was ordered and when the sides couldn’t come to terms, Andrade vacated his title with Alimkhanuly promoted to WBO champion.
Alimkhanuly showed off his diverse boxing skill in his next two fights scoring an impressive unanimous decision over middleweight contender Denzel Bentley by landing around 30 more punches and connecting on 35 percent of them. He didn’t get the fight he wanted next time out with Jaime Munguia and former light middleweight champion Liam Smith opting out. Instead Alimkhanuly faced No. 6 ranked contender Steven Butler. While there could have been a letdown over the pick of opponent, there wasn’t with Alimkhanuly winning by a second round KO.
A confident fighter who knows what he’s capable of, Mikhailovich finally gets the chance to show everyone else what he can do. He’s amassed a glossy record against lesser competition, but the fact is he still had to win those fights. The odds reflect the value of his opponents, though, with none of them ranked inside the top 15 on any of the sport’s four major organizations.
That was to have changed last year against highly ranked Denis Radovan in a title eliminator. However, Radovan postponed with an injury and the rescheduled bout was also shelved. The IBF later said if Mikhailovich found and won another fight he would be named mandatory challenger. As result of the delays Mikhailovich was out of the ring for nearly a year but the delays didn’t affect him in a quick rout of Les Sherrington in April.
Bet Janibek Alimkhanuly vs. Andrei Mikhailovich
Again I don’t like the ridiculously high odds for the champ and I think Mikhailovich is just looking for the chance to prove himself. Well, he has it so let’s see what he does with it. “There’s no doubt in my mind I’m going to win, I’ve just got to prove it,” he said in an interview. I like his confidence and Mikhailovich has been the aggressor in just about all his fights. One thing Alimkhanuly has had difficulty with is overly-aggressive opponents so the joint is poised for an upset. At +800 it’s worth it to drop a few bucks on the challenger.
Boxing Odds Pick: Andrei Mikhailovich / Decision
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