Official negotiations between unified middleweight titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly and Hamzah Sheeraz have been extended by the World Boxing Organization, the WBO announced Thursday.
The teams for Alimkhanuly and Sheeraz, the WBO’s No. 1 contender, had been assigned a deadline to reach a fight agreement by Wednesday, after which it would be sent to a purse bid. But on Thursday, the WBO announced on its official X account that promoters Top Rank (Alimkhanuly) and Queensberry (Sheeraz) had “jointly petitioned an extension of the negotiation period,” which the organization then granted.
The sides now have until November 4 at 3 p.m. ET to negotiate a deal.
Alimkhanuly, 16-0 (11 KOs), a 31-year-old from Kazakhstan now based in Oxnard, California, defended two of his other belts in a stoppage of Andrei Mikhailovich on October 4.
Sheeraz, 21-0 (17 KOs), is a 25-year-old Londoner who most recently blitzed Tyler Denny in a two-round stoppage In September. He is also the WBC’s No. 1 middleweight contender.