Hamzah Sheeraz vacates WBO title rather than face Janibek Alimkhanuly

Hamzah Sheeraz has relinquished his WBO super-middleweight title rather than make a mandatory defence against Janibek Alimkhanuly, days after Queensberry Promotions secured the rights to stage the fight.

The WBO said on Friday that Queensberry had formally notified it in writing of Sheeraz’s withdrawal. The sanctioning body’s World Championship Committee is due to issue a ruling on Monday, September 21, addressing the vacant title and the division’s next steps.

Queensberry won Wednesday’s purse bid with an offer of $1,001,809. Under the WBO’s 75-25 split, Sheeraz would have received approximately $751,000, while Alimkhanuly, the mandatory challenger, was entitled to around $250,000.

The promoter proposed November 28 and December 5 as possible dates, with London, Birmingham and New York among the potential locations. Top Rank subsequently confirmed in writing that Alimkhanuly was prepared to proceed under the purse-bid terms, but Sheeraz and his team chose to give up the belt.

Before the bids were opened, Sheeraz had said he would accept the fight if the money reflected what he considered its difficulty.

“We’ll fight, we accept the fight. Let’s crack on,” he told The Ring’s Mr Verzace Podcast. “I believe it’s going to come to a point where the money is gonna be considerably low for the biggest fight of my career. To me, it doesn’t really make sense. Especially being a champion as well. It could be a good offer, I’m praying it is and then it’s simple, the fight goes ahead. But I have a funny feeling that it won’t be. We’ll see what happens.”

The result of the purse bid led to a public exchange between Sheeraz and Alimkhanuly’s manager, Egis Klimas. After Klimas described the match-up as a major fight, Sheeraz replied: “Brother if it was a ‘huge fight,’ Top Rank or yourself would have put up big numbers. You’re a smart man, you already know this. But no need to worry.”

Klimas responded: “Brother, it’s not always about big numbers, as you know we [are] even on the 25% side. But of course it’s for you to make decisions on your own career. Good luck!”

Klimas disclosed Sheeraz’s decision before the WBO released its statement and accused the British fighter of being afraid of Alimkhanuly. He wrote on X: “Ha, did I was right, if you scared yesterday, you scared today and you will be scared tomorrow. Couple things you can’t train in boxing, chin and scariness. Been informed @sheeraz_hamzah vacated WBO title. What ashamed!!!”

Money was not Sheeraz’s only objection to the fight. He had questioned the WBO’s decision to install Alimkhanuly as his mandatory challenger following the Kazakh’s anti-doping case and move up from middleweight.

Alimkhanuly tested positive for meldonium before a planned December 2025 unification fight with Erislandy Lara. The contest was cancelled, the IBF stripped him of its title and he received a backdated one-year suspension.

Alimkhanuly denied wrongdoing. The WBO retained him as its middleweight champion and later said his suspension had been “terminated” from July 10 after he fulfilled the organisation’s conditions. He then moved to super-middleweight and rose to No. 1 in the WBO rankings after Saul “Canelo” Alvarez was removed when he opted to face WBC champion Christian Mbilli.

The WBO ordered Sheeraz-Alimkhanuly on August 14 and gave Queensberry and Top Rank 20 days to reach an agreement before calling a purse bid. Sheeraz had already raised the possibility of vacating in protest at the mandatory decision.

“That [vacating the title] is something that I will have to discuss with my team,” he said. “What they have done, it pushes you into that corner of me eventually thinking like that and, if I was to do that, it would be totally justifiable.”

Sheeraz, 24-0-1 (19 KOs), won the vacant title by stopping Alem Begic in the second round on May 23. He retained it with a majority decision over Simon Zachenhuber on July 25, despite injuring his hand early in the fight, and had been targeting a return in late November or early December.

Alimkhanuly, 17-0 (12 KOs), has not fought since stopping Anauel Ngamissengue in April 2025. He had repeatedly pushed for the mandatory contest, writing before the purse bid: “He’s dragged this out way too long. If he wants the fight, then say it and make it happen. If he doesn’t want to fight, he needs to vacate the title. I don’t have time to waste!”

Sheeraz has said he has one fight remaining on his promotional agreement with Queensberry. He has discussed the possibility of considering other options, including Zuffa Boxing, while also leaving open an extension with Frank Warren’s company.

The WBO is expected to clarify on Monday how Alimkhanuly and fellow leading contenders Diego Pacheco and Jacob Bank will be positioned to contest the vacant title.