TV Picks of the Week: Janibek Alimkhanuly and Nick Ball defend their world titles

A pair of title fights are the main headliners for this week’s action. Janibek Alimkhanuly defends one of his two middleweight titles on Friday against Andrei Mikhailovich, and Nick Ball puts his featherweight belt on the line Saturday against Ronny Rios.

Friday, October 4: Janibek Alimkhanuly-Andrei Mikhailovich (ESPN+)

The broadcast begins at 5am Eastern Time (10am BST).

The early start time is because Alimkhanuly-Mikhailovich is headlining at The Star in Sydney, Australia. Their fight was originally supposed to take place in July in the United States but was postponed when Alimkhanuly fainted while trying to make weight.

Alimkhanuly, a 2016 Olympian, is a unified middleweight titleholder in a division that is lacking in depth and star power. Saul “Canelo” Alvarez long ago departed. Gennadiy Golovkin is essentially retired. Jermall Charlo’s personal struggles have led to significant inactivity; he was finally stripped in May of the WBC belt, which he’d last defended in 2021.

In that vacuum, Alimkhanuly was upgraded from interim to regular WBO titleholder in 2022 and then added the IBF belt in his past appearance – a unification win over Vincenzo Gualtieri nearly a year ago. The 31 year old is originally from Kazakhstan, and now fights out of Oxnard, California. His record is 15-0 (10 KOs).

Only the IBF belt will be on the line. The WBO didn’t sanction Friday’s bout and will make its title vacant if Alimkhanuly loses.

Mikhailovich is a 26-year-old from Auckland, New Zealand, who is 21-0 (13 KOs). He’s coming off of a fifth-round TKO of the previously unbeaten Edisson Saltarin in April 2023 — a win that is less meaningful given Saltarin has since recorded three more defeats – and a 84-second TKO of Les Sherrington, a 39-17 foe, 12 months later.

The winner will hopefully move on to unification bouts against the likes of Carlos Adames (WBC) or Erislandy Lara (WBA), or defenses against rising contenders such as Hamzah Sheeraz.

Friday, October 4: Quinton Randall-Janelson Figueroa Bocachica (DAZN)

The broadcast begins at 8pm Eastern Time (1am BST).

Randall is a welterweight in the process of rebuilding after successive defeats. Similar can be said of Bocachica.

Randall, a 34-year-old from the Houston area, lost wide decisions to Brian Norman Jr in November 2023 and Gor Yeritsyan in February. He returned in May with a confidence-booster, outpointing the 3-13-3 Bryan Springs, bringing his record to 14-2-1 (3 KOs).

Bocachica, a 25 year old from Detroit, dropped decisions to Roiman Villa in September 2022 and Alberto Palmetta in November 2023. A bout in March with Norman ended in a no contest due to cuts both suffered before four rounds had been completed. He is 17-2-1 (11 KOs).

Their fight is the main event at the Red Owl Boxing Arena in Houston.

Friday, October 4: Muhammad Waseem-Sabelo Cebekhulu (DAZN)

The broadcast begins at 2pm Eastern Time (7pm BST)

Waseem will be back in the ring for the first time in two-and-a-half years. The flyweight came up short in his second title fight at 112lbs, losing a decision to Sunny Edwards in March 2022. He was also outpointed by Moruti Mthalane in 2018 in a bout for a vacant title. The 34 year old from Quetta, Pakistan, is 12-2 (8 KOs).

Cebekhulu, a 7-0 (3 KOs) fighter from South Africa, is also returning after 14 months away. In July 2023 he stopped the 8-4 Layten Gloss in three rounds. Cebekhulu has mostly fought in the bantamweight division, so we’ll see whether he’ll have a size advantage against Waseem.

Their fight will take place at the Intercontinental Hotel in St Julian’s, Malta.

Friday, October 4: Matty McHale-Selenzi Anwary Twaha (DAZN)

The broadcast begins at 2pm Eastern Time (7pm BST).

These two bantamweight prospects will headline at Caledonia Gladiators Arena in East Kilbride, Scotland.

McHale, a 28 year old from Edinburgh, is 6-0 (5 KOs). He just stopped his first opponent with a winning record, beating the 12-1 Mustafa K Mkupasi in June. 

Twaha, a 24 year old from Tanzania, is 9-0 (7 KOs). He’s defeated three foes with winning records; two of them were 2-0; most recently Twaha scored a quick TKO of the 12-11-2 Swedi M Juma in April. This will be Twaha’s first professional bout outside of his home country.

Saturday, October 5: Nick Ball-Ronny Rios (TNT Sports 2)

The broadcast begins at 2pm Eastern Time (7pm BST).

Ball (20-0-1, 11 KOs) returns home for his first world title defense, headlining at the Echo Arena in Liverpool against Rios. The 27-year-old featherweight won the WBA belt in June, when taking a split decision over Raymond Ford. 

That was Ball’s second shot at a title; he was one point away from defeating Rey Vargas for the WBC title in March. Vargas had started that fight well, but Ball gained momentum as the fight went on, scoring two knockdowns in a split draw.

Rios (34-4, 17 KOs) is entering his second fight back from a relatively brief retirement. He stopped fighting after a 12th-round technical knockout loss to the unified junior-featherweight titleholder Murodjon Akhmadaliev in June 2022.

Rios gained weight in retirement. “He returned to the boxing gym and lost 20lbs,” BoxingScene reported earlier in 2024, prior to Rios’ comeback win in April – a fifth-round knockout of the 21-5-1 Nicolas Polanco. “At the same time, the passion to fight returned and he realized he wanted one more shot.”

This will be that shot. Rios, a 34 year old from the Los Angeles area, recorded some decent wins earlier in his career against the likes of Rico Ramos and Andrew Cancio, but he had setbacks against Robison Castellanos (loss by TKO5 in 2014), came up short against titleholder Rey Vargas (UD12 in 2017) and was stopped in six by Azat Hovhannisyan in 2018. Four straight wins followed – including a knockout of the previously unbeaten Diego De La Hoya in 2019 and a wide decision over Oscar Negrete in February 2021. The Akhmadaliev fight followed 16 months later.

The undercard includes a fight between the undefeated junior-welterweight prospects Jack Rafferty (23-0, 14 KOs) and Henry Turner (13-0, 5 KOs).

Saturday, October 5: Carmen Gulliksen-Anari Matthews (TrillerTV.com)

The broadcast begins at 6pm Eastern Time (11pm BST).

If you’ve really got nothing better to do with your Saturday night, you can watch this card headlined by Gulliksen – a 48-year-old junior middleweight who is 1-0 (0 KOs), against Matthews, a 22-year-old who is 0-1.

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter @FightingWords2 and @UnitedBoxingPod. He is the co-host of the United Boxing Podcast. David’s book, “Fighting Words: The Heart and Heartbreak of Boxing,” is available on Amazon.