WBO issues order to undefeated champion after knocking out Russian

The World Boxing Organization (WBO) has ordered WBO and IBF middleweight champion Zhanibek Alimkhanula (16-0, 11 KOs) to fight EBU titleholder Hamza Shiraz (21-0, 17 KOs).

The promoters of both boxers have 15 days to negotiate. If the parties fail to reach any agreement, a promotional bidding process will be announced. The minimum bet for the fight is 200 thousand dollars.

A week ago in Sydney, a 31-year-old Kazakh defeated Russian Andrei Mikhailovich, who is competing under the New Zealand flag.

Earlier, Mihajlovic's team won the promotional bidding and decided to fight only for the IBF title. The WBO agreed to this condition and promised to keep the title for Alimkhanula, but on the only condition that both fighters would have two belts at stake and the current champion would win. Before the fight, it turned out that the fighters would fight only for the IBF.

According to WBO rules, any champion who fights in the champion's weight class that is not a title defense can result in that title being vacant.

Only verified information is available on our Telegram channel OBOZ.UA and Viber. Do not fall for fakes!