Janibek Alimkhanuly did not at all squander the moment.
The Kazakh southpaw broke down and eventually stopped Germany’s Vincenzo Gualtieri in the sixth round of their WBO/IBF unification bout between unbeaten middleweights. No knockdowns were scored on the night but Alimkhanuly repeatedly hurt Gualtieri en route to a stoppage victory at 1:25 of the sixth round in their ESPN-televised main event Saturday evening at Fort Bend Epicenter in Rosenberg, Texas.
There was little separation between the pair of unbeaten middleweight titlists, though the offense was limited both ways. Gualtieri landed the bout’s first telling blow, a right hand over the top of Alimkhanuly’s guard. Alimkhanuly worked his jab to inch his way inside and looked to set up his uppercut but Gualtieri had a gameplan to neutralize that strategy.
Alimkhanuly threw a purposeful right jab in round two, which was enough to slow down Gualtieri to a crawl. The right weapon was enough to develop swelling under Gualtieri’s eye, enough to force him to switch from conventional to his natural southpaw stance.
There was little change in the flow of the fight in round three. Alimkhanuly took what was offered before he made a point to force the action in round four. The jab was on point as was his left hand behind it. Gualtieri landed a straight left hand midway through the round, by far his standout moment in an otherwise lackluster offering from the Germany-based in his U.S. debut.
Alimkhanuly finally connected with his vaunted left uppercut. It came behind a pair of jabs late in round five, which forced Gualtieri to dip his legs and stagger into the ropes. He was able to remain upright and rode out a right hook to the body to make it out of the round.
He was merely on borrowed time.
The body language of Gualtieri was immediately detected by Alimkhanuly, who twice hurt his unbeaten foe in round six. A left uppercut by the unbeaten Kazakh once again caused Gualtieri to wobble but covered up in time to avoid an immediate follow-up. Alimkhanuly went on the attack as he sensed the end was near.
Referee David Fields appeared ready to stop the fight but instead disrupted Alimkhanuly’s rhythm with an odd separation despite absence of a break in the action. An ensuing volley of power punches by Alimkhanuly did the trick, as a defenseless Gualtieri was rescued by the third man.
The one-sided defeat ended Gualtieri’s IBF title reign after just three months. He won the belt in a July 1 victory over Esquiva Falcao in his hometown of Wuppertal, Germany and immediately agreed to unify. It ended in his first defeat, a lopsided one at that as he fell to 21-1-1 (7KOs) and no longer with his title in tow.
Alimkhanuly advanced to 15-0 (10KOs) and provided the middleweight division with its first unified titlist since countryman Gennadiy Golovkin held the WBA and IBF middleweight belts one year ago. Golovkin since vacated both titles and has not fought since a repeat defeat to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez last September in Las Vegas.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox