I don't see how folks aren't recognizing a very strong champ in Janibek Alimkhanuly. -Former amateur world champ -Won a belt in 12th fight -Unified in 15th fight -Power puncher with great boxing skills. Defensively responsible -Crowd pleasing style -Willing to fight anyone -In his prime The main critique is that middleweight is weak. That's fine to say, but when was the last time it was strong? Besides GGG and briefly Canelo, you need to go back a while to say 160 was a strong, well rounded division. Janibek is doing exactly what you'd want a dominant champion of a weaker to do: he's outboxing and stopping everyone put in front of him. None of the draws (Eubanks, Benn, Sheeraz) are going to fight this guy. Why would they? Crawford skipped a whole division for an easier fight and bigger payday. That's not Janibek's fault, and doesn't warrant folks leaving him off a p4p list. If anything, ruling a historic division uncontested should get you immediate respect. I expect Janibek to keep winning in style. I also expect the detractors to say "he hasn't fought anyone" as if him outboxing and stopping B fighters Eubank or Benn would somehow change that.
Boy just has to keep winning. Just keep on winning. It's the only bad thing about the Eastern guys is so many of them turn pro so late! He's 32. Still, he is preserved hopefully and might have another five years at the top, perhaps 11 fights.
Golovkin and Canelo I agree, but at the very least he would be competitive with Jacobs and Derevyanchenko, and honestly I think he would beat them.
I don't think so. Jacobs went toe to toe with Canelo and Golovkin, and Chenko almost edged it against Golovkin. What did Janibek achieve so far? Nothing. He's hyped just because he's from Kazakhstan, Golovkin's countryman. They try to promote him as the new.Golovkin but obviously he's not at Golovkin's level.
Because of how the amateurs work there. They are paid a nice living that supports their families as an amateur, and the pros are, as you know, very hit and miss with money. So they stay amateurs until the last minute. If you look at the other end of the spectrum, it's Mexico. Amateurs have basically no support, so fighting amateur is just a thing you do as a kid and then you turn pro the moment you're legally old enough. And I wouldn't be at all surprised if some large for age 13-14 year olds in Mexico have lied about their age so they could do some pro club fights for some cash.
