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Ben Baby, ESPN Staff Writer
Janibek Alimkhanuly put on his most impressive performance as a middleweight champion on Saturday night as a thunderous left uppercut sparked a series of knockdowns that ultimately gave the Kazakh fighter a second-round TKO victory over Steven Butler to retain his WBO title.
The 30-year-old landed three knockdowns in rapid succession as Butler was unable to stay on his feet and survive the round. Following the victory, the WBO’s 160-pound message delivered a simple but stern message.
“Champions and the boxing superstars, where are you?” Alimkhanuly said in his postfight interview with ESPN. “I am waiting. Let’s fight.”
Saturday night’s fight in Stockton, California, was Alimkhanuly’s second successful defense of the title after he was promoted from interim champion last year.
Butler’s second attempt at a middleweight title, meanwhile, was very short-lived. After Butler (32-4-1, 26 KOs) absorbed a big left uppercut from Alimkhanuly (14-0, 9 KOs), he momentarily remained upright until a string of clobbering left hands sent Butler to the canvas. The Canadian went down two more times before referee Jack Reiss stopped the fight.
The first knockdown came with more than 1:40 left in the second round. After the second knockdown, Reiss warned Butler that he was only giving him one more opportunity to continue the bout. But following each knockdown, Butler never looked remotely steady. At one point, he resembled a bull rider, attempting to hold on to Alimkhanuly for as long as possible with the hopes of not being thrown down. Alimkhanuly eventually wriggled loose and landed a couple of big left hands, with the last one ending the bout for good.
The reigning WBO champion landed 25 punches in the second round, according to CompuBox. Twenty-one of those were power punches. Butler landed two punches in the entire fight.
Saturday’s outcome was precisely what Alimkhanuly needed to create some momentum for his career. Despite being a champion in one of boxing’s legacy divisions, he hasn’t had a list of notable opponents. His last outing, a decision victory over Denzel Bentley, also left much to be desired.
Coming into the evening, Alimkhanuly was listed as a -3000 favorite, according to Caesars Sportsbook, with the over/under set for 5.5 rounds. That proved to be even a bit generous in Butler’s favor.
Now with another defense behind him, Alimkhanuly made it a point to request to face boxing’s biggest names.
“I am the most-avoided boxer,” Alimkhanuly told ESPN. “I am the middleweight king. Let’s go, fight. Top Rank, who is next?”
Moloney wins vacant WBO belt
Jason Moloney accomplished a dream he wanted for so long.
Moloney won his first career title when he outpointed Vincent Astrolobio via majority decision, 115-113, 116-112, 114-114, to win the WBO bantamweight belt.
He had to overcome some significant adversity to earn the title after suffering what he believes is a broken hand in the third or fourth round.
“It hurt every time I threw it,” Moloney said. “But I knew this was my last chance to make my dream come true.”
It might have not been the most entertaining bout, but Moloney (26-2, 19 KOs) did what was necessary to defeat Astrolobio (18-3, 13 KOs). The Australian used a constant stream of jabs and steady lateral movement to keep Astrolobio, a Filipino power puncher, from getting in position to land a big shot.
Moloney was in his third career title fight on Saturday night. He lost a split decision to Emmanuel Rodriguez in 2018 and was knocked out by Naoya Inoue in 2020. Moloney’s WBO belt was among those vacated by Inoue when he moved up to junior featherweight.