Janibek Alimkhanuly is as good as he’s going to get

Denzel Bentley isn’t relying on being the next challenger to Janibek Alimkhanuly – his priority is remaining active.

The 29-year-old earned the status of mandatory challenger to Alimkhanuly’s WBO middleweight title in December, when he dethroned Brad Pauls as British champion and therefore also won the vacant European title. 

His victory came two months after Alimkhanuly, from Kazakhstan, defended his IBF title against Andrei Mikhailovich, and preceded Bentley’s promoter, Frank Warren, speaking with confidence about his hopes of fighting the world’s leading middleweight next.

Bentley and Alimkhanuly previously contested the WBO middleweight title in Las Vegas in November 2022, when Alimkhanuly retained his title. An unexpected defeat a year later by Nathan Heaney forced the talented Bentley to rebuild, but in that time Alimkhanuly’s progress has perhaps stalled, and Bentley is hoping to capitalise on that, either as his next challenger or later in 2025.

“As long as I’m active I’m happy, but I do want a world title shot,” he told BoxingScene. “I’m very excited about it. I get to go with Janibek for a second time – this time, more preparation, more experience, a few more years down the line, and I know what he possesses. He’s an amazing fighter – a great fighter. But I don’t feel like he’s a developing fighter. I don’t think he’s getting any better than he already is. And I feel like I’ve gotten better since then and still have a higher ceiling and still can get better. 

“Just because of when I started and how I’m developing – all of these things – he’s been boxing since he was a kid; he’s as good as he’s going to get. His best is as good as it gets, but I’m still developing; I’ve seen him; I’ve been in there with him; I know what he possesses, so it’s about capitalising on that rather than about figuring it out in the fight. I know that. So we can work on things in camp that I know he does well.

“Most definitely [he’s the best middleweight in the world]. [But] he’s very inactive. He takes long layoffs. Which means he isn’t improving on his skills. He gets in the gym when he’s got a date and he trains for that fight. The luxury of that is good – if you’re that good you can just turn up for camp, train and get the job done. But did I see anything he’s improved on since I fought him? I don’t think he’s fought many times since I’ve fought him. He’s fought twice. How do you develop if you’re inactive? You’re not someone that’s always in the gym, because clearly he can’t always be in the gym if he’s struggling to make weight and passing out. 

“That means he’s outgrowing the weight. Maybe if he moves up we might see a different side of him – a little bit better. But I don’t see any improvements. He’s stuck in between [weight divisions] – so what does he do? He’s trying to quickly unify before making a decision, and he’s going to trip up on the way.”

Alimkhanuly’s withdrawal through dehydration from an earlier date with Mikhailovich, in July 2024, was the struggle with weight to which Bentley was referring.

At 31, suggestions persist that Alimkhanuly struggles to make 160lbs, regardless of how convincing he eventually was in defeating Mikhailovich in Sydney, Australia, in October. He regardless recently posted on social media “I have a fight date – see you soon”; BoxingScene understands he expects his next fight to be staged in his home country. 

“If I never fight him and win a world title, I’d be very happy,” Bentley explained. “But I’d love to fight him again and unify – I just want to prove a point. I want to prove a point to anyone I’ve taken a loss off, but especially to him, because I got to that level without ever sparring anyone that was a world champion. I sparred guys that were said to be world level but had never won a world title, so I didn’t know what that level consisted of. So I went in there with absolutely no experience of any of that, and I still managed to do what I done. 

“So now I have that experience and I’ve moved forward and I’ve progressed; I’m older; I’m more mature in my style; more disciplined in my boxing. I have a better chance of beating him and I want to prove that.

“It was a good performance [against Pauls]. I’ve been given some good feedback; it was a good performance from me; not a lot of people have seen me box like that. Everyone’s used to knockouts and stuff, but people were pleased with it and it was a good boxing performance, so I’m happy with it.

“It was about timing, really. With the setback I had [against Heaney], it was about getting back and it was like, ‘Can I be arsed to get back?’ and obviously I showed that I could. At first I thought I couldn’t; then when I got over Christmas [2023] and spent a bit of time with family, I couldn’t wait to get back in the gym. ‘Let’s move forward, stay focused, and make sure we get to where we need to be.’ Confidence-wise, that’s always going to be a plus – winning a fight – but it’s just about timing.

“Moving forward, up the levels, you’re always going to be in tough fights, so it was good that I managed to change what I needed to do to win. At the beginning, going forwards, I really wanted to hurt him, but my corner was advising me just to box and use my jab and move around, and later on in the fight that’s what I started doing. I put him down in the 10th and thought I’d step on him again; it was a good little change of pace; good little assets I have.

“Anything can happen. Look at Dillian Whyte – Dillian Whyte waited two years with the WBC [for his title shot], and he was number one for how long? Things can be promised and things can be said, but I knew I needed to beat Brad and get my hands on the British and then win the European, so that was an achievement in itself.”