Undefeated middleweight Hamzah Sheeraz will get a world title shot on February 22 against one of the three champions in the 160lb division in Riyadh.
Queensberry promoter Frank Warren said said Michael Benson that Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs) will fight for a world title on the “same card as the return of Daniel Dubois”. However, there is no word on which champions the 25-year-old Sheeraz will be fighting. He is ranked #1 WBC and #1 WBO.
If Queensberry wanted to show what Sheeraz is made of, they would have confronted him with the IBF/WBO champion Janibek Alimhanuly, but it is impossible to believe. The way Shereaz saw it, he would lose badly to Janibek and never beat him, no matter how many years passed.
Sheeraz will probably challenge WBC champion Carlos Adames rather than IBF and WBO champion Janibek because the latter is too talented. Sheeraz is a good fighter, but he is not at the level of Janibek, and it would not be good for him to take on the undefeated fighter from Kazakhstan.
It would be too much of a step up in class for Sheeraz to challenge a fighter like Janibek. Sheeraz is a decent scraper when paired with care, but he doesn’t have the kind of talent that would allow him to swim with a shark like Janibek.
Sheeraz, as a stork at 6’3″, has been fighting extensively on the domestic stage, with the likes of Tyler Denny, Liam Williams and Bradley Skeete during his seven-year professional career. Throwing Sheeraz with Janibek would be defeated as the last opponent of the Kazakh, Andrei Mikhailovich.
Hamzah was previously defeated by Austin ‘Ammo’ Williams in their fight earlier this year on June 1 and was lucky that the American did not go down at the end after putting him on skates. If it had been Janibek or Erislandy Lara, it would have been over for Sheeraz.
If it is Adames (24-1, 18 KOs) that Sheeraz challenges on February 22, he has a decent chance to win because this is an imperfect champion who has not looked impressive in fights against Terrell Gausha, Serhiy Derevyanchenko and Patrick Teixeira. Adames lost to Teixeira via a 12-round unanimous decision on November 30, 2019.
Last updated on 11/04/2024
