WBO Orders Hamzah Sheeraz’s Next World Title Fight

Hamzah Sheeraz’s (24-0-1, 19 KOs) next world title fight appears to be set as the WBO has ordered the British super middleweight to defend the championship against its mandatory challenger.

The 27-year-old won the vacant WBO championship with a second-round knockout win over Alem Begic earlier this year, and defended the belt once already when he returned to the ring in July to edge Simon Zachenhuber by majority decision.

In its latest rankings, the WBO has Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez listed as its No.1-ranked challenger to Sheeraz. But as ‘Canelo’ is obligated to fight Christian Mbilli in September, it leaves the Puerto Rico-based sanctioning body looking further down its list for the next in line.

Janibek Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KOs) is the No.2-ranked challenger and the WBO determined the unbeaten Kazakh box to fight Sheeraz next, over Diego Pacheco and Jacob Bank (No.3 and No.4 in their super middleweight rankings, respectively). The WBO rejected a request from Bank to challenge Sheeraz next.

Though Janibek has never fought at super middleweight before, his eligibility comes from holding the WBO championship at middleweight in 2025. He has since moved to 168.

If the representatives for Sheeraz and Janibek fail to reach an agreement after 20 days then purse bids will instead be ordered.