The WBO announced that middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly, currently serving a suspension for a failed drug test, has vacated the belt ahead of a move to super middleweight. Interim champion Denzel Bentley “shall immediately succeed” Alimkhanuly at 160.
Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KO) tested positive for meldonium, one of the more common PEDs in Eastern European sports, ahead of a planned unification bout with Erislandy Lara this past December. Though the IBF swiftly stripped him of their belt and ordered
Aaron McKenna to fight Etinosa Oliha for the vacant title, the WBO settled for a one-year suspension and upgraded Bentley’s (22-3-1, 18 KO) final eliminator against Endry Saavedra into an interim title bout.
Bentley wound up stopping Saavedra in seven, and so here we are.
Oddly, the WBO’s official statement notes that no mandatory defense has been made in over two years, but president Gustavo Olivieri says “[t]he ruling regarding whether a voluntary or mandatory is forthcoming.” Surely they don’t need several more days’ deliberation for a decision they could make in 10 minutes.
Should they (correctly) elect to enforce the obligation, Yoenli Hernandez (10-0, 9 KO) will get first crack. What a scrap that would be.
