JANIBEK UNIFIES IBF/WBO MIDDLEWEIGHT BELTS!
April 28, 2024
By: Lydia Smith
(Punchline Lead Writer)
Punchline was on hand Saturday night at the Top Rank Boxing/ ESPN event inside the new Fort Bend Epicenter in Rosenberg, TX. The Kazakhstan southpaw Janibek Alimkhanuly defended his WBO title for the third time and added the IBF belt in dethroning Germany’s Vincenzo Gualtieri.
Janibek won by TKO, adding the IBF title to his WBO world middleweight title. Referee, David Fields, stopped the fight at 1:25 of round 6. The judges had unanimously scored for Janibek in the first five rounds.
Gualtieri started the fight moving his hands from a high guard to dropping his hands low, at times, below his belt line. As they began to pace around each other, Janibek found an opening between Gualtieri’s guard for a jab, power right straight. The action slowed in round 2, with Gualtieri continuing to move his hands high and low. Janibek began to throw lead uppercuts and double jabs. Gualtieri threw counter jabs and counter straights to the body. Janibek stepped up the pace of the fight in round 3 landing a left uppercut directly on Gualtieri’s chest while pivoting to the left after double jabs.
In round 4 Janibek began throwing jabs for Gualtieri to counter, opening up his body Janibek capitalized on the traps he set countering to Gualtieri’s body. Gualtieri landed a lead left cross on Janibek. Janibek continued effectively counter and landed a hard left uppercut. Gualtieri’s legs wobbled yet he quickly recovered landing a left hook on Janibek with :34 left in round 5 that bought enough time for him to survive the round stanza.
A minute into round 6, Janibek landed a left uppercut that almost dropped Gualtieri for the first time in his career. Janibek followed it up with left hooks that had Gualtieri stuck against the ropes. Referee Fields held Janibek by his shorts for a second, as if to stop the fight, as Gualtieri quickly moved out to the middle of the ring. The fight continued as Janibek cornered Gualtieri landing two power jabs, two measured left hooks, as Gualtieri began to sink into the corner. Fields quickly jumped in to stop the fight at 1:25 of round 6.
In the post-fight interviews with ESPN, Janibek said he brought his “Kazak Style” to the fight. Gualtieri said Janibek was the better fighter on this night, “He had the hard punch, we see that… in my face.” Gualtieri thought the fight was stopped a bit early. Janibek landed 34% of 243 thrown punches. Gualtieri landed 26% of 85 thrown punches.
What’s next for Janibek? Janibek wants to unify the WBA and WBC middleweight titles to be the undisputed Middleweight champion.
Wit the victory, Janibek Alimkhanuly improved to 15-0, 10 KOs, while Vincenzo Gualtieri drops to 21-1-1, 7 KOs.
Nahir Albright vs Keyshawn Davis – Lightweight, 10 rounds
The co-featured lightweight bout between Davis of Norfolk, VA, and Albright of Sicklerville, NJ, ended in a Majority Decision win for Davis. In a highly physical and closed quarters contest, Davis and Albright seemed close to grappling at times.
The fight started at a fast pace as the boxers looked for openings while circling around each other in the ring. After the first-round bell rang, Davis threw a left hook to the body. Albright immediately responded with a short right hook and Davis countered with the same before the ref got in-between them. In round 2, Albright held Davis, pushing him down. Davis responded with a right hook to the back of Albright’s head. Davis began catching Albright with his right hand as Albright increased his punches. Albright came forward in round 3, throwing jabs and quickly moving to his back foot which Davis took advantage of. Davis focused on the body the last 30 seconds of round 4 and set up Albright’s head for a hard right that made Albright’s legs wobbly. In round 5, Albright continued to throw jabs that Davis countered with body shots and straights. Albright held Davis and Davis twisted to almost flip Albright over. The referee called time to warn the fighters to keep the fight clean.
In round 6, Albright began throwing more punches and pivoting out of Davis’s path. Davis quickly closed the distance with power jabs and uppercuts. At one point, Albright held Davis and lifted him over his shoulder while Davis kicked his legs in the air. Round 7 started with Davis landing a flurry of punches before pulling Albright down to the ground. Albright increased his jabs and began throwing lead hooks. A cut above Albright’s left eye seemed to impact his vision? Albright stepped up his punches in round 8, landing a power jab, right cross on Davis. Davis landed a hard right cross on Albright at the end of round 8. As Davis tried to set Albright up against the ropes, Albright responded with a looping right that landed square on Davis’s face as Davis was in mid-punch. Davis seemed to slow his pace in round 9 as Albright came closer to Davis with short punches. In the final stanza, Albright increased his pace even further, turning it into an inside fight, landing more punches on Davis than any other round.
The crowd gasped in surprise when the judges’ scorecards were read: John Basile 95-95, Robert Hoyle 96-94, David Sutherland 97-93. Punchline.live had it scored 98-92 for Davis.
Davis said he wants to fight Jose Pedraza next in the post-fight interview with ESPN.
Davis improved to 10-0, (6). While Albright fell to 16-2 (7).
Tyrrell Anthony Herndon vs. Richard Torrez Jr. – Heavyweight, 6 Rounds
Torrez Jr. of Tulare, CA made quick work of Herndon with referee Alejandro Leon stopping the fight at 1:26 of round two. Torrez Jr.’s flawless record of knockouts is now 8-0, 8 KOs. Herndon of San Antonio drops to 21-5, 14 KOs.
About the Editor
Army Veteran and former Professional Boxer Simon Ruvalcaba started boxing at the age of ten and Had a 71 fight amateur career which featured a 139 lbs. 1998 8th U.S. Army Boxing Championship out of Camp Casey, Korea and a spot on the prestigious Army Boxing Team at Fort Hood, TX. After a journeyman pro career of 18 fights, which included sparring sessions with many champions and contenders including Julio Cesar Chavez and Pernell “Sweat Pea” Whitaker, Simon started writing and has contributed to many publications and websites including fighthype.com, pound4pound.com, Tahoe Daily Tribune (South Lake Tahoe, CA), Nevada Appeal (Carson City, NV). He has also been the Boxing Instructor for Ken Shamrock and The Lions Den and was MMA and Bareknuckle star Paige VanZant’s first boxing coach!
Born and Raised in South Lake Tahoe, California he now resides in Sun Valley, Nevada and spends as much time as possible with his Sons Gabriel and Oscar! Beyond boxing, Simon is an all around sports fanatic and is passionate about the teams that he roots for. Simon also works as a Sportsbook Supervisor for Caesars Sportsbook in Lake Tahoe.
