Janibek Alimkhanuly not only reached the scale this time, but he made a good weight.
The combined weight of 160 pounds was 159 ½ pounds, while IBF mandatory challenger Andrei Mikhailovich was 159.9 pounds. Their fight headlines an ESPN+ show on Friday at The Star in Sydney, Australia.
Both fighters must still comply with the IBF rehydration check on day two, when they must weigh no more than 170 pounds. The IBF rules state that participants in the title and elimination fights cannot weigh more than 10 kilograms over the agreed limit on the day of the weigh-in.
Kazakhstan’s Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 knockouts) holds the IBF WBO titles. However, New Zealand’s Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KOs) declined to challenge for the WBO title and only deserves to win the IBF belt.
Alimkhanuly will retain both titles if he wins. Defeat will see Mikhailovich take home the IBF title, while the WBO belt will be vacant.
Alimkhanuly-Mikhailovich was previously scheduled to take place on July 13 in Las Vegas. The fight was canceled before the weigh-in fight started when Alimkhanuly was hospitalized due to dehydration.
Mikhailovich was left out of the fight as a result. Alimkhanuly was then called by the WBO—and the title he holds—to provide medical evidence as to what led to his dehydration and whether he is fit to continue reigning.
Meanwhile, the IBF intervened and put the fight back on the table. This issue provided a historic moment for the #PurseBidHeads team of the game. No Limit Boxing, Mikhailovich’s promoter, outbid Top Rank by just $1,000 ($351,000 to $350,000) to win the rights to the September 3 fight.
Alimkhanuly is trying to defend his fourth title and first IBF belt. He knocked out undefeated Vincent Gualtieri in the sixth round of their IBF/WBO unification fight last October 14 in Rosenberg, Texas.
Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KOs) enters his first title fight. Time means he’s fighting for one belt instead of two, although there was a theory that this strategy was intended this time around. A combined list of titles cannot be weighed on the same day under IBF rules, but only if more than one title is at stake. Not so here, leaving Alimkhanuly and Mikhailovich bound by IBF rules as a rule.
