Hamzah Sheeraz Vacates WBO Super Middleweight Title
Hamzah Sheeraz has walked away from his WBO super middleweight title, just 48 hours after Queensberry Promotions won the purse bid for a showdown with former middleweight belt-holder Janibek Alimkhanuly.
The WBO confirmed the decision in a statement, revealing that Sheeraz and his team had formally informed the organisation of their choice to vacate.
A Reign That Barely Had Time to Start
On paper, Sheeraz’s world title run looks like a line on a résumé rather than a chapter in a career.
He picked up the vacant belt on May 23, beating Alem Begic, then turned around quickly to defend it against Simon Zachenhuber on July 25. Two fights, two wins, and a belt that never really had time to gather any weight or narrative, even if both outings landed on big event cards.
Then it was gone.
This wasn’t a case of a champion being hunted down or exposed. It was a cold, modern boxing calculation.
Queensberry’s winning purse bid for the Janibek fight came in at just over $1 million. Split down, that would have left Sheeraz with somewhere in the region of $750,000. Good money, but not necessarily career-defining for an unbeaten fighter at 24-0-1 (19 KO) who believes he has options elsewhere and time on his side.
Janibek, though, is a different level of risk.
The Janibek Equation
On paper, Alimkhanuly is the toughest opponent Sheeraz would have faced as a professional, perhaps rivalled only by Carlos Adames, with whom Sheeraz was held to a disputed draw.
Janibek is a sharp, heavy-handed southpaw with a reputation as one of the more avoided men around the middleweight and super middleweight scene. High risk. The reward? Respect, certainly, but financially not outrageous compared to other routes Sheeraz might explore.
That kind of equation drives a lot of decisions in the sport. Champions move. Belts move. The money, and the timing, usually decide who goes where.
There’s another layer to this story, though, and it sits squarely with the WBO’s handling of Janibek.
A Controversial Climb to Mandatory
Janibek’s elevation to mandatory challenger at super middleweight raised eyebrows across the sport.
The Kazakh hasn’t boxed since April 2025. More than that, he failed a drug test last year, a result that cost him the IBF middleweight title. The IBF stripped him. The WBO did not, keeping him in their picture and now installing him as the mandatory challenger at 168 lbs.
For some, that’s a hard sell.
The optics are stark: a fighter who lost one world title over a failed test now positioned to fight for another, without having thrown a punch since that incident. Yet in the WBO rankings, Janibek sits at No. 1, leading the queue.
Sheeraz’s decision doesn’t erase that controversy. It just removes him from the firing line.
What Comes Next at 168
With Sheeraz stepping away, the WBO super middleweight title is vacant again, and Janibek Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KO) is now in pole position to fight for it.
He’ll presumably be matched with one of the leading contenders in the rankings. Behind him in the WBO list sit Diego Pacheco, Jacob Bank, Kevin Sadjo, Armando Resendiz, Bektemir Melikuziev, Edgar Berlanga, Milorad Zizic, Hebert Sousa, and Bernardin Jakaj completing the top 10.
There’s no shortage of names. Some bring fanbases, some bring danger, some bring both. The belt will not stay on the shelf for long.
As for Sheeraz, he leaves his brief reign with an unbeaten record intact and a clear message: in a sport where the belts are supposed to mean everything, sometimes the smarter move is to put the strap down and pick your own road.
