By Ian S Palmer
Unbeaten southpaw Zhanibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan defends his WBO Middleweight Title for the first time as the meets Denzel Bentley of London, England this Saturday, November 12th. The 12-rounder from Las Vegas can be seen live in America on ESPN+ while fans in the UK can catch it on BT Sport 1. Alimkhanuly stopped Danny Dignum in the second round in May to win the interim title while Bentley last fought in September when he stopped Marcus Morrison in the fourth round to retain his British Middleweight Crown.
The 29-year-old Alimkhanuly, who now fights out of Oxnard, California, enters the ring with a perfect record of 12-0 with 8 Ko’s and has boxed 67 rounds since making his pro debut in 2016. Prior to that he enjoyed a fine amateur career as he represented Kazakhstan at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he was beaten in the quarterfinals. He also won a gold medal at the 2013 World Championships where he beat Anthony Fowler and Jason Quigley.
He reached the quarterfinals of the 2015 World Championships, 2015 Asian Championships and 2010 World Youth Championships, won a gold medal at the 2013 Asian Championships and 2014 Asian Games and also fought in the 2015 World Series of Boxing for Astana Arlans. Alimkhanuly stands just over 5-feet-11-inches tall with a 71.5-inch reach and has also won the WBC Continental Americas and WBO Global Middleweight Belts as a pro.
He’s a solid puncher with a good chin as he carries around a current knockout ratio of 66.7 per cent. Alimkhanuly also has wins over Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Milton Nunez, Vaughn Alexander, Steve Martinez, Cristian Olivas, Stuart McLellan and Rob Brant. He’s an excellent prospect with speed, power and fine boxing skills and appears to be entering the prime of his career at the moment.
Bentley is 27 years old and has mark of 17-1-1 with 14 Ko’s and has boxed 68 rounds since making his pro debut in 2017. He’s 5-feet-11-inches tall with an unlisted reach so gives up just half an inch in height to the champion. He also has better-than-average power with a current current knockout ratio of 73.7 per cent. Betnley’s lone loss was to Felix Cash by third-round stoppage in April of last year to lose his Commonwealth and British Middleweight Titles. However he regained the vacant British Title with a split decision win over Linus Udofia this May.
The Englishman’s lone draw as a pro was a 10-round affair with Mark Heffron in September, 2020. Bentley then beat Heffron by stopping him after the fourth round in a rematch two months later to capture the vacant British Middleweight Belt. Bentley has basically been fighting domestic and European level opponents up to now and has never fought outside of the UK as a pro. He’ll be taking a step up in class this weekend.
Prediction…
Alimkhanuly hasn’t been boxing a pro for long but has plenty of amateur experience and appears to be a solid boxer in all areas. Bentley is a solid pro but I just don’t think he’s on the same level as Alimkhanuly at this point of their careers. I’m expecting Alimkhanuly to leave the ring with his undefeated record intact and the title with another victory.
