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World Champion No Longer Interested In Chris Eubank Jr Fight: “I Need Other Titles!”

Written by Kristan Caryl on 16th October 2023.

Chris Eubank Jr

Chris Eubank Jr was told he would be ‘knocked out in the first round’ if he fancied a shot at the world middleweight title.

WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly took to social media earlier in October to call Eubank out, who was coming off the back of his impressive knockout victory over Liam Smith and is now ranked number one with that same sanctioning body.

Alimkhanuly has a good record against Brits having already beaten the likes of Denzel Bentley and Danny Dignum on his way to becoming one of the most respected fighters in his division.

This past weekend, the Kazakh unified his WBO belt with the IBF title in Texas when he ground down and knocked out German fighter Vincenzo Gualtieri in six rounds.

In the wake of that win, he has called upon his promotional outfit, Top Rank, to help him get his hands on the other two major middleweight world title belts.

“I can’t celebrate until I have all four belts! I need WBC and WBA titles! Let’s do it in February! I’m not interested in defending my titles! I need other titles! I will knock out any champion!

As for Eubank, who Alimkhanuly has previously dismissed as ‘unheard of‘ he is thought to be concentrating on his much talked about fight with Connor Benn.

Promoter Eddie Hearn is confident that fight happens in December, but with Benn’s ongoing issues with the British Boxing Board of Control not yet fully resolved, he is potentially looking at the Middle East.

Alimkhanuly, meanwhile, will be looking to WBA king Erislandy Lara or the WBC’s Jermall Charlo to add the belts he wants to his growing collection.