Just hours before his scheduled defense of his WBO and IBF middleweight titles against Andrei Mikhailovich, Janibek Alimkhanuly has been forced to pull out due to a severe case of dehydration. As per a news story from RingTV.com, Alimkhanuly “fainted after cutting the last few pounds” before making the 160-pound limit.
The fight was to have taken place in Las Vegas tomorrow night but now, with Alimkhanuly having been placed on an IV drip in the hospital yesterday, and with him being, as his manager Egis Klimas said, “in no condition to fight,” the bout is a no-go. And quite obviously at this late hour there was no way a late sub could possibly have been brought in.
Instead, the 10-round lightweight fight between unbeaten contender Raymond Muratalla and former super featherweight world champion Tevin Famer will be elevated to the main event status.
31-year-old Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan is currently unbeaten at 15-0(10), and the Southpaw is, in the opinion of some, the best middleweight out there today. This has come as a big setback for Alimkhanuly, but as Klimas said to Ring, there is “no sign of kidney damage” from the various scans the fighter has had whilst in the hospital.
It is too a big setback, and a disappointment, for challenger Mikhailovich, who is currently 21-0(13) and hails from New Zealand. Fans were expecting a good action fight between two unbeaten fighters who each possess a fan-friendly style.
At this point in time, we all hope Alimkhanuly makes a full recovery with him resuming his career as soon as he possibly can.
Alimkhanuly would have been having his first fight since October, this his career longest layoff, and we will now have to wait and see if the Mikhailovich fight, a voluntary fight for the two-belt middleweight champion, is or isn’t rescheduled.
