Ruben Villa and Gustavo Lemos see action on the undercard
As revealed at the start of the month, unified middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly will defend his belts against unbeaten Russian-born Kiwi challenger Andrei Mikhailovich on July 13th at Las Vegas’ Palms Casino Resort.
Mikhailovich (21-0, 13 KO) is Alimkhanuly’s (15-0, 10 KO) highest-ranked challenger on the IBF side and sits at no. 11 with the WBO. The 26-year-old has yet to claim a noteworthy victory and will be taking a massive step up in class.
“I look forward to defending my world titles, and I must give Andrei Mikhailovich a lot of credit. The other world middleweight champions refused the challenge, and he stepped up to the plate,” Janibek said. “On July 13 in Las Vegas, I will show the world ‘Qazaq Style’ again. The road to undisputed continues, and Mikhailovich is in my way.”
Mikhailovich said, “At the end of the day, Janibek is just another guy, another test on my way to greatness. Others will say this is a big deal, but to me, this is fate. I was born for this. Since day one, I have planned to dominate, take over, and control my destiny. I train relentlessly, eat right, and always maintain a warrior’s mindset, so I don’t need any extra motivation because the two belts are on the line.”
Alimkhanuly has made noise about battling newly upgraded WBC champion Carlos Adames in a unification match and the timing would work out well if, as expected, he beats Mikhailovich and Adames beats Terrell Gausha next week. I’m not confident, though; the promotional hurdles between Top Rank and PBC don’t look promising.
The co-feature sees Raymond Muratalla (20-0, 16 KO) battle former super featherweight champion Tevin Farmer (33-5-1, 8 KO), once seen as the cream of the crop at 130 before a loss to JoJo Diaz and subsequent underwhelming comeback tour.
“I’m ready for the lightweight champions, but I can’t take Tevin Farmer lightly. He is a former world champion who wants another shot,” Muratalla said. “I have a great training team with Robert Garcia and all the fighters at Robert Garcia Boxing Academy, and they push me to get better every fight. On July 13, you will see the best version of Raymond Muratalla.”
Farmer said, “I’m finally in a healthy state. It’s time to show my level. The fans haven’t seen me at my best yet. I’m happy they’ll finally witness greatness from me.”
Undercard bouts of note include William Foster III (17-1, 11 KO) vs Eridson Garcia (18-1, 12 KO), Ruben Villa (22-1, 9 KO) continuing his holding pattern against Sulaiman Segawa (16-4-1, 6 KO), and the freshly signed Gustavo Lemos’ (29-1, 19 KO) Top Rank debut.
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