Press Release:
Andrei Mikhailovich, the unbeaten contender from New Zealand, will challenge Kazakhstan’s middleweight champion Janibek “Qazaq Style” Alimkhanuly for his IBF world title. The bout will take place on Friday, Oct. 4, at The Star in Sydney, Australia.
This action-packed event will stream live and exclusively on ESPN+ in the U.S. and be broadcast on Fox Sports and Kayo Sports in Australia.
It will be the first time since Daniel Geale’s unanimous decision over Anthony Mundine at Sydney’s Entertainment Centre in 2013 that the IBF middleweight world title has taken place in Australia.
The bout was previously due to headline a July 13 show at Palms Casino in Las Vegas. The fight was canceled prior to the pre-fight weigh-in when Janibek was hospitalized due to dehydration. No Limit Boxing won the subsequent IBF purse bid and elected to stage the fight in Australia.
Janibek (15-0, 10 KOs), a 2016 Olympian from Kazakhstan, rapidly ascended the middleweight division with key wins over Rob Brant and Hassan N'Dam. In May 2022, he knocked out Danny Dignum to secure the WBO interim title and was elevated to full champion after Demetrius Andrade vacated the belt. In October 2023, he unified the middleweight titles with a victory over IBF champion Vincenzo Gualtieri, establishing himself as the dominant force in the division.
Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KOs), born in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and raised in New Zealand, began boxing at 15 and turned professional in April 2018. He won his first regional title with a third-round TKO against Ernesto España in June 2022 and followed up with a decision win over Francis Waitai the next month. In April 2023, he delivered his most notable performance by recovering from an early knockdown to stop the previously unbeaten Edisson Saltarin in five rounds. He continued his impressive run with a first-round TKO victory over Les Sherrington a year later.
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