Janibek Alimkhanuly faces an uncertain future at 160 pounds due to a fainting incident when attempting to lose the final couple of pounds.
The WBO and IBF middleweight champion was due to defend his belts against Andrei Mikhailovich at Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas but had to pull out late on Friday.
According to manager Egis Klimas, Janibek had to withdraw from his title defense after being hospitalized Thursday evening due to dehydration.
“Janibek was cutting the final pounds last night when he fainted,” said Klimas. “We immediately took him to Spring Valley Hospital Medical Center, where doctors put him on an IV.
“While the scans showed no kidney damage, he was severely dehydrated and in no condition to fight.”
Top Rank said, “The ten-round lightweight showdown between undefeated contender Raymond Muratalla and former world champion Tevin Farmer has been elevated to the main event,” as they looked to save the show. However, the spotlight will be on Janibek’s future as the Kazakh puncher aimed to clean out at middleweight.
Over the past few months, Janibek has focused solely on calling out the other champions. At the final press conference, he reiterated this stance.
“The reason I’m here is to fight for all four titles. It doesn’t matter if I’m going to defend one title or two titles. I’m looking to get and defend all four titles,” said the unified ruler.
“I have to be critical of Erislandy Lara and Carlos Adames because they are champions and do not want to fight other champions. I think that a real champion fights other champions. However, I think they will also be sitting here in the future.”
There was no indication that anything was wrong as Janibek spoke on his camp before the collapse.
“Everything went well in my preparation in California. We had four or five different sparring partners. Everything went smoothly. And I’ll show you all on Saturday.”
Less than 24 hours later, Janibek pulled out of the fight despite showing no signs of gauntness at the final presser. For safety reasons, he may now be forced to move up to 168 and relinquish his belts.
Friday’s weigh-in went on without the headliner, with Raymond Muratalla [134.1 lbs] and Tevin Farmer [134.7] making the lightweight limit. Ruben Villa [125.5] and Sulaiman Segawa [122.6] made weight for their WBC Silver Featherweight title clash in the new co-feature.
Muratalla-Farmer and the rest of the undercard will stream live and exclusively in the U.S. on ESPN+ starting at 6:50 p.m. ET/3:50 p.m. PT.
Read all articles and exclusive interviews by Phil Jay. Learn more about the author, experienced boxing writer, and World Boxing News Editor since 2010. Follow on Twitter @PhilJWBN.
