Top Rank president Todd DuBoef has made it possible for Chris Eubank Jr. to challenge middleweight IBF and WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly. This comes after Eubank Jr.’s promoter Kalle Sauerland revealed last week that the Eubank Jr. has no forthcoming fight after talks for a possible rematch with Conor Benn in February had collapsed.
“I can confirm that the negotiations around a potential Eubank-Benn clash for early next year have finished. The parties were not able to reach a commercial understanding and the negotiations have now ceased and the fight is dead in the water at this minute,” said Kalle Sauerland in media reports.
“Let’s go. There is no red light, it’s all green light right here. We’re ready. There was a lot of chatter over this past week about Eubank being ready for the fight and Janibek is a really, really skilled fighter,” said DuBoef in media reports.
“We’ve put it out there and he’s given us the directive of we’ll fight anybody. We think he’s the premier guy in the middleweight division. Eubank said he was interested, we’re interested,” he added.
“Let’s bring it on, I think it would be fantastic. I think it’s fantastic for the sport and fantastic for the middleweights,” he continued.
After stopping Vincenzo Gulatieri in the sixth round to earn the IBF strap in addition to the WBO title he already owned, the former world amateur gold medalist Alimkhanuly, 30, from Kazakhstan remains undefeated at (15-0, 10KOs) in his professional career.
Eubank Jr. (33-3, 24KOs) recently stopped Liam Smith in the tenth round of their rematch, taking revenge for his earlier defeat. Eubank Jr. is a 34-year old boxer from England.
DuBoef believes Alimkhanuly can have the same kind of impact on these shores as Vasily Lomachenko did when he faced Luke Campbell in London in August 2019 and that British boxing fans will enjoy what he brings to the ring as well.
“I think Janibek, with the right dance partner, the fans there will appreciate his skillset. It makes sense with the right guy, Eubank would be the right guy, and we’re ready to go,” said DuBoef.
