WBO middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (13-0, 8 KOs) weighed in at 159.2 lbs, and challenger Steven Butler (32-3-1, 26 KOs) came in at 159.6 pounds on Friday at the weigh-in for their 12-round main event bout tonight, May 13th at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, California. The main portion of Saturday’s Janibek vs. Butler event will be shown at 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN+ and Punching Grace Network.
In what should be an exciting chief support bout, Jason Moloney (25-2, 19 KOs) takes on Vincent Astrolabio (18-3, 13 KOs) for the vacant WBO bantamweight title.
The 32-year-old Moloney weighed in at 117.8 lbs while Astrolabio came in at 117.2 lbs.
Complete weights:
(ESPN, ESPN Deportes & ESPN+, 10:00 p.m. ET/7:00 p.m. PT)
- Janibek Alimkhanuly 159.2 vs. Steven Butler 159.6
- Jason Moloney 117.8 vs. Vincent Astrolabio 117.2
(ESPN+, 6:45 p.m. ET/3:45 p.m. PT)
- Gabriel Flores Jr. 134.4 vs. Derrick Murray 134.4
- Javier Martinez 161.2 vs. Joeshon James 161.2
- Ruben Villa 126.4 vs. Maickol Lopez Villagrana 126.6
- Amado Fernando Vargas 129.4 vs. Bernardo Manzano 129.6
- Brian Norman Jr. 148 vs. Jesus Perez 147
It should be interesting to see if the hard-hitting southpaw Janibek will score a quick knockout of the highly motivated 27-year-old Canadian Butler.
In Janibek’s last fight, he had had all kinds of problems defeating Denzel Bentley last November and was fortunate to escape with a victory.
In that fight, we learned that when Janibek is forced to take return fire, he’s not as impressive as his ability to dish out the punishment.
At the end of that fight, Janibek looked far more beaten up than Bentley, and he was lucky that there weren’t more rounds because he was falling apart from the pressure being put on him.
“I’m feeling good. I’m ready. I’m 100% ready,” said Janibek to Behind The Gloves. “Of course, I’m ready, but my main goal right now is to gather all the four belts and become undisputed,” said Janibek when asked if he was ready to face Canelo Alvarez.
“First, I want to show to the fans my boxing, and if the opportunity comes in, I believe it’s going to be a fast knockout. Most likely because I have a Kazakh style, and I call them, and they’re not coming. Where are they at? If they’re not coming to me, I’m going to come after them,” said Alimkhanuly when asked why he think the other fighters at 160 are avoiding him.
“It’s going to be a big show, and I want to show the Kazakh style,” said Janibek.
