By Dan Ambrose: WBO president Paco Valcarcel revealed today that they would be ordering undefeated middleweight champ Janibek Alimkhanuly (12-0, 8 KOs) to defend against his mandatory Jaime Munguia in his next contest, provided that he successfully defeats challenger Denzel Bentley next month on November 12th.
The question with that is whether Golden Boy Promotions, who promote the undefeated 26-year-old Munguia (40-0, 32 KOs), will allow him to take the dangerous fight against Janibek.
With the punching power, speed & boxing skills that the southpaw Janibek possesses, it’s unlikely Golden Boy will let Munguia face him.
Munguia’s opposition has been largely weak during his nine-year professional career, particularly since he moved up to 160 in 2020.
If he were to face Janibek, it would present a huge step up in class for the Mexican native, and he hasn’t had the prerequisite experience to take on a fighter in this class.
With the way Golden Boy is matching Munguia, it’s doubtful that he’s going to get the experience needed before he outgrows the weight class, which you can argue that he already has.
Munguia is HUGE for the 160-lb division and already looks like a full-fledged 168-pounder after only two years in the weight class.
Golden Boy has been trying to get 40-year-old IBF & WBA middleweight champion Gennadiy Golovkin to defend against Munguia, and you can understand why.
It would be a win-win situation for Munguia & Golden Boy if they were to take on the aging Golovkin. Even if Munguia were to lose to GGG, the money that he would get for that fight would be considerable, making it worthwhile.
However, with the way Golovkin looked in his last four fights, Munguia would have an excellent chance of beating him. Golovkin appears to have lost hand speed in the last four years, and in his last fight against Canelo Alvarez on September 17th, he couldn’t pull the trigger on his shots.
The 29-year-old Janibek will defend his recently won WBO middleweight title against #14 ranked fringe contender Denzel Bentley (17-1-1, 14 KOs) on November 12th on ESPN at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.
Top Rank promoter Bob Arum wants to turn the 2016 Olympian Janibek into a star, and he would be overjoyed if he could fight Munguia to take his scalp.
The dangerous southpaw Janibek was elevated to WBO middleweight champion last August after the previous belt holder Demetrius Andrade chose not to fight him.
