By Brian Webber: Janibek Alimkhanuly (14-0, 9 KOs), who many see as the king of the middleweight division, used his spotlight on ESPN last Saturday night to call out inactive 160-lb WBC champ Jermall Charlo and Canelo Alvarez after his lightning-fast second round knockout of Steven Butler (32-4-1, 26 KOs) at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, California.
Although pointless, the call out of Canelo & Charlo by the 30-year-old Kazakstan native Janibek was still important because it’s helpful for fighters to name-drop so that the boxing public views them as being at the same level as more established fighters.
Janibek’s accomplishments and popularity are nowhere near that of Canelo and Jermall, but it’s still essential to clout chase to get his name out there.
After an uneventful first round, Butler was dropped three times in the second by Janibek before referee Jack Reiss waived it off at 2:35 of round two.
Many refs would have stopped the fight after the first knockdown of the round because Butler’s legs were unsteady when Reiss asked him to come to him.
Unfortunately, the call out by the 2016 Olympian Janibek of Charlo and Canelo Alvarez won’t encourage either of these fighters to face him.
The 32-year-old Jermall will try and get a fight with Canelo because he’s pretty much done as a fighter at this stage of his career. Two years of inactivity with no fights scheduled is an indication of where Jermall’s head is at. Boxing is no longer Charlo’s priority.
As for the undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo. He has Dmitry Bivol problems he needs to take care of in September, and also, he’s got David Benavidez, his WBC mandatory, he must take care of.
Top Rank will need to continue trying their best to find contenders that are willing to face Janibek. They need to forget about Jaime Munguia, the unbeaten contender promoted by Golden Boy because he will likely never agree to fight him.
Janibek Alimkhanuly: “Champions and the superstars, where are you? I am waiting. Let’s fight. I am the most avoided boxer. I am the middleweight king. Let’s go fight. Top Rank, who is next? Who is next?”
Mark Kriegel: “You learned English really well. Did you plan on calling everybody out tonight?”
Janibek: “Canelo & Charlo, I’m coming.”
Kriegel: “You want Canelo and Charlo?”
Janibek: “Yeah.”
Kriegel: “Listen, the last time you went the distance. We’re so accustomed to you knocking everyone out. How much did you want the knockout tonight? Because it was pretty dramatic.”
Janibek: “Very, very fast.”
Kriegel: “You wanted it a lot?”
Janibek: “Yeah, very.”
Kriegel: “Do you think this will make people fight you?”
Janibek: “I am ready for anybody. Anybody, anytime, anywhere.”
Kriegel: “Champ, thank you very much. I think you delivered your message.”
