Hamzah Sheeraz has decided to vacate his WBO super middleweight title, just two days after Queensberry Promotions won a purse bid for a fight between Sheeraz and former middleweight titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly.
The WBO made it official with a release today, after Sheeraz and his team told them their decision.
Sheeraz (24-0-1, 19 KO) beat Alem Begic for the acant belt on May 23, then defended against Simon Zachenhuber on July 25. It will go down as one of the most forgettable world title reigns
in recent memory, other than his fights came on major event cards.
But it’s hard to fault him too much in terms of how these things actually work, and being realistic about the landscape of boxing. Queensberry won the bid for just over a million dollars, Janibek is a much tougher fight on paper than anyone Sheeraz has faced other than maybe Carlos Adames, with whom Sheeraz went to a disputed draw, and he really might be able to pretty easily make more than the roughly $750,000 he would have made for the Janibek fight, against someone else.
There’s also the fact that Janibek being appointed the WBO’s mandatory challenger at the weight is absurd, given his failed drug test last year, which saw the IBF strip him of their middleweight title, while the WBO refused to do so for whatever reason.
Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KO) hasn’t fought since April 2025, and now will presumably fight someone for the vacant WBO super middleweight title.
Janibek sits in the WBO’s No. 1 contender slot for the time being, followed by Diego Pacheco, Jacob Bank, Kevin Sadjo, Armando Resendiz, Bektemir Melikuziev, Edgar Berlanga, Milorad Zizic, Hebert Sousa, and Bernardin Jakaj rounding out th etop 10.
