Sheeraz Wins Purse Bid War, Must Face Janibek in London or NYC

Hamzah Sheeraz's mandatory WBO super-middleweight defence against Janibek Alimkhanuly is happening, and Sheeraz's own team made sure of it. Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions won the purse bid in San Juan, Puerto Rico, submitting $1,001,809 to beat out Top Rank's $820,000 offer for the Kazakh challenger.

That means the fight lands on home-ish turf for the Brit — Queensberry proposed London, Birmingham or New York City on either November 28 or December 5. Top Rank had pitched Las Vegas on December 11 or 19. Sheeraz, 23-0-1 (19 KO), is guaranteed 75% of the purse under the WBO split, with Alimkhanuly taking the rest.

How We Got Here

Sheeraz picked up the vacant WBO 168lb strap in May, stopping Alem Begic inside two rounds. He then made his first defence in July against Simon Zachenhuber. Two fights into his reign, he's already staring down a mandatory that he clearly didn't want.

Alimkhanuly is the reason for the friction. The former unified middleweight champion — he held the WBO and IBF belts at 160 — moved up to super-middleweight and was slotted straight into mandatory position. He's chasing a two-weight world title.

The negotiating window between the two camps came and went without a deal, which is what sent the whole thing to purse bids in the first place. Once that happens, the highest bidder controls the staging, and Queensberry came in over a million dollars to keep the fight on their side of the table.

The Controversy Sheeraz Won't Let Go

Sheeraz hasn't been quiet about how this mandatory came about. He publicly questioned the WBO's decision after Alimkhanuly tested positive for meldonium last year, and went as far as branding the ordering of the fight 'corruption'.

Strong words, and he's floated a nuclear option: vacating the belt rather than taking the fight. On paper it removes the meldonium headache. In practice it would gut his leverage for the fights that actually pay — chief among them a shot at Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez, the division's biggest name.

That's the tension at the heart of this. Walk away and you're a former champ chasing a big name from the back of the queue. Fight and win, and you're a proven, belt-holding option nobody at 168 can ignore.

What Happens Next

The fact that Queensberry actively bid — and bid hard — tells you which way Sheeraz is leaning. You don't drop over a million dollars to stage a fight you're planning to swerve. This looks like a defence he's taking on, complaints and all.

For Alimkhanuly, it's a chance to become a two-weight world champion against an unbeaten, big-punching younger man on the road. For Sheeraz, it's a live-fire test before any Canelo conversation gets serious. Expect the date and venue to firm up shortly now the promoter's locked in.

The smart read: Sheeraz fights, keeps the belt as a bargaining chip, and lets the results do the negotiating. Vacating would've been the easy way out — winning the purse bid suggests he's not looking for one.