Via Huck Allen: #2 WBO Janibek Alimkhanuly (11-0.7 KOs) and #3 Danny Dignum (14-0-1, 8 KOs) will fight for the World Boxing Organization interim middleweight title on May 21 in a Top Rated broadcast on ESPN.
Olympian Janibek 2016, from Kazahstan, has had recent injury-time wins against these remarkable fighters: Hassan N’Dam and Rob Brant. Janibek has a lot of punching power, and he is capable of making Dignum easy.
Top Rated promoter Bob Arum is impressed with Janibek’s talent and he would be delighted if he was elevated to full WBO middleweight champion if he beat Dignum.
Is Janibek the next Golovkin?
If Arum can make Janibek a star on par with Gennady Golovkin, he could take over the 160 lb division.
Six-year professional dignum, 30 years old, the best of which went to Conrad Cummings and Rafal Jackiewicz. Last year, Dignum played in a 10th round draw against Andrey Sirotkin. Dignum, who is from England, stopped Grant Dennis in the sixth round last month on February 11.
WBO No. 1 contender Jaime Munguia has decided not to contest the provisional 160 lb title with Janibek. Instead, Munguia could face Danny Jacobs on June 11th.
We won’t know shortly after current WBO middleweight champion Demetrius Andrade faces Zach Parker on May 10 if he will return to 160 lb to resume his title defense.
If Andrade decides not to return to 160-lb, the Janibek vs Dignum match will be elevated to all-WBO middleweight champion.
Andrade needs to decide
According to ESPN, Andrade will have ten days to decide whether to vacate his WBO middleweight belt or keep it after he battles Parker for the interim 168-lb WBO title. It will obviously depend on what Andrade looked like before Parker.
Andrade has more to gain from keeping the 168th position than he does going back to the 160 lb division.
Keeping at 160 is essentially an end for Andrade as Gennady Golovkin and Jermall Charlo, two well-known weight class champions, have shown no desire to fight ‘Boo Boo’ and that is expected to constant.
Matchroom Boxing’s British promoter Eddie Hearn recently said that he has no plans to re-sign him.
Hearn was unable to fight the big names for Andrade in the two years he was promoted. What has also prevented Andrade from getting important matches is the title defense he had to make for his WBO belt.
Andrade recently defended against mandatory Liam Williams in a fight that didn’t draw interest from state boxing fans.
The WBO recently ordered Andrade to take on Janibek, 28, but he picked up 168 to take on WBO Zach Parker No. 1 for the interim title.
It was a good move for Andrade as he has put himself in a position to challenge WBO super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez or at least, put pressure on him.
As far as the Andrade vs. Dignum takes place, all is known is that the match will take place in the United States. No venue yet, but First Class Boxing will arrange one.
Jamel Herring in the co-features
In the Andrade-Dignum game, the recently defeated former WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring (23-3, 11 KOs) will play in the tie position on the hand.
The 36-year-old Herring’s opponent has yet to be decided. In his final game, Herring was usurped by Shakur Stevenson by a tenth round knockout on October 23 in Atlanta.
Herring was an excellent fighter, but he wasn’t at Stevenson’s level in that fight. In Herring’s previous match, he stopped former two-division world champion Carl Frampton and sent him out of retirement.
If Herring does move into lightweight, he’ll have a chance to earn some decent pay before he gets into gloves at some point.
