Hamzah Sheeraz showed he was ready to challenge Janibek Alimkhanuly for his IBF and WBO middleweight titles on Saturday night, dispatching Tyler Denny in two rounds at London’s Wembley Stadium.
If Sheeraz’s management feels he’s not yet ready to take on Janibek, you have to conclude that he’s being manufactured for the Berlanga-esque cash-out fight against Canelo Alvarez. In other words, Sheeraz is a hype job. I see it as 100% hype after seeing that he was injured by Austin Williams.
Janibek should be the champion Sheeraz calls for, but there are questions about whether he is ready. Tyler Denny is not the type of fighter that will prepare Hamzah to challenge Janibek for his belts. Pairing Hamzah against light punchers like Tyler Denny will stop his growth as a fighter.
Is Hamzah Sheeraz a Hype Job?
Sheeraz is ranked #1 WBC and #1 WBO and ready for a world title. It is not clear what is the goal of his management for his career, because as they move, he does not seem to be prepared for the best fighters in the division like Janibek, Carlos Adames or Erislandy Lara.
It might not work for Sheeraz to capture the WBC belt from Adames and then use this title as a launching pad to move up to 168 for an immediate title shot against Canelo. Assuming that’s the goal, it will fail because Sheeraz’s popularity won’t be high enough in the US for Canelo to give him a title shot because the match won’t bring in good PPV numbers.
To get Canelo’s payday, Hamzah Sheeraz needs to beat Janibek and Lara to get American fans to take notice. He’s not going to do that by beating smaller and weaker fighters like Tyler Denny, and defeating Carlos Adames, who is arguably the weakest link among the three middleweight champions, won’t be enough. Adames is not well known in the United States, and not seen as one of the best.
If the idea is to create a manufactured fighter like Edgar Berlanga for big cash out purposes, Sheeraz is fighting in the wrong division. He would have to compete at 168 against fighters his size to qualify for a title shot against unified super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez.
He is about to turn 27 years old, and the way he has been moving, he could soon be 30 and still fight lower level opposition. Do they feel that Sheeraz is not ready to fight the killers at middleweight? He has the size of a super average, which is obviously one of the reasons he looked good.
It’s understandable why Sheeraz didn’t want to go up to 168 because he would have faced guys who would have exposed him and taken advantage of his fragile chin. However, it is a waste of Sheeraz’s career if he stops at 160, fighting smaller opponents like Tyler Denny without at least trying to prove himself against the best Janibek.
Some fans feel that Sheeraz is a “hype job” with a weak chin that will crumble once he is thrown with one of the dangerous sharks in the 160lb division.
Why isn’t Sheeraz targeting Janibek?
Janibek is the proof that Sheeraz’s management should focus on, because if the tough Kazahk destroys him, he probably isn’t worth keeping. It would be better to just discard Hamzah or focus on mating with only domestic level fodder.
Sooner or later, they’re going to throw Sheeraz into the deep end by putting him with one of the champions to see if he’s worth putting high on the charts. Last weekend, Hamzah’s loss against Denny did not belong on the co-feature on the Anthony Joshua vs. Daniel Dubois card at Wembley Stadium.
It was such an ugly matchup, and it was obvious that it was a showcase fight to make Hamzah look good after he was injured in his previous fight by Austin Williams last June in Riyadh. Although Sheeraz eventually knocked Williams out in the 11th round, seeing him get knocked out early was not a pretty sight.
Janibek is the guy Sheeraz should be calling because he is seen as the #1 talent in the 160 lb division. Hamzah Sheeraz must face 2016 Olympian Janibek to claim the top spot.
Lightweight Tyler Denny (19-3-3, 1 KO) lacked the size and firepower to handle the 6’3″ heavy puncher. The fight wasn’t even remotely competitive and didn’t do much to advance Sheeraz .
Janibek will defend his IBF/WBO titles next month against Andrei Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KOs) on October 4 in Sydney, Australia. After that fight, Janibek’s schedule will be free, and he will be ready to defend against Hamzah if his management is willing to make that fight. I doubt they will because Janibek is the real thing.
