Janibek Alimkhanuly vs. Denzel Bentley tonight, preview and time of the fight

By Boxing News - 11/11/2022 - Comments

By Jim Calfa: Janibek Alimkhanuly has an opportunity tonight to increase his star power in a big way against Denzel Bentley in a fight that has knockout written all over it on ESPN+. Alimkhanuly (12-0, 8 KOs) makes his WBO middleweight debut in a card that begins at 7:15 p.m. ET / 4:15 p.m. PT at the Pearl Concert Theater at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

For Bentley to have a chance of winning, he’s going to need to get in the trenches and be willing to take shots from Janibek because he’s not going to win by fighting scared.

Bentley was staggered in the first round of his loss to Felix Cash last year, and he was never in that fight from the earliest moments.

If Bentley fights like that tonight, he won’t make it out of the first round because Janibek is a bigger, faster, and more accurate puncher than Cash.  Janibek is like a middleweight version of Naoya Inoue.

The southpaw Janibek, a 2016 Olympian from Kazahstan, has been compared to Gennadiy Golovkin in terms of punching power.

Janibek doesn’t smile and laugh as much as Golovkin did when he was in the prime of his career, winning over U.S audiences, but possesses similar power and better hand speed. Janibek throws combinations better than Golovkin did in the zenith of his career, and he’s more willing to mix it up.

In the chief support, WBA minimumweight champion Seniesa Estrada battles Jazmin Gala Villarino in a 10 round bout.

Janibek vs. Bentley – When does it start?

The card begins at 7:15 p.m. ET / 4:15 PT, but the main event between Janibek and Bentley will be after 11:00 p.m. ET.

“I don’t want to,” said Denzel Bentley to Secondsout when asked if he wants to enjoy the occasion and his surroundings in Las Vegas. “I think that takes away what I need to do. Losing sight of the job at hand.

“After the fight, I’ll come out on top, win the world title and then really soak it up and think about what I’ve done. Other than that, I’m in the ring, boxing someone else.

“I can’t really look at the atmosphere and say, ‘Wow, look at what I’ve done.’ I ain’t done the job yet. It’s not finished; it’s not over. I can’t act like I’ve achieved the most when there’s still a job to do.

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“I don’t want to. I’m not trying to, and I don’t want to. It means a lot. It means I’ve completed what I started out to do. It’s time to set out a new task,” said Bentley when asked what it would mean to him to win a world title against Janibek tonight.

“Every fighter you ask dreams of being a world champion,” said Bentley. “That’s where I wanted to be from the start at the world level to win a world championship and headline back in the UK, everyone there for me and those amazing nights.

“The fans will remember forever, and winning a world title will help me do that. Winning a world title will help me achieve my goal, and it makes me feel like I started the sport for a reason because I started late.

“It will allow me to realize that the work I put in was real. It wasn’t in vain, and it wasn’t like I’m playing in a game. So this opportunity came up for me to achieve when I hadn’t even fought guys with winning records yet.

“I want to be a world champion, and we’re here now. It just means a lot. I’m not trying to make this my moment. I’m just fighting for it. I want to win it first, and that’s the moment that I got to soak it up,” said Bentley.