Zhanibek Alimkhanuly vs Vincenzo Gualtieri Preview October 14th, 2023
Unbeaten southpaw Zhanibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan defends his WBO Middleweight Title for the third time when he meets unbeaten IBF Champion Vincenzo Gualtieri of Germany this Saturday, October 14th. The 12-rounder from Rosenberg, Texas can be seen live in America on the full ESPN platform while fans in the UK can catch it on Sky Sports Arena and those in Canada can check it out on TSN 2. Alimkhanuly stopped Steven Butler in the second round in May in his last outing. He won the interim title a year earlier by stopping Danny Dignum in the second round and beat Denzel Bentley by unanimous decision last November in his first defence. Gualtieri last fought in July when he beat Esquiva Falcao by unanimous decision to win the vacant IBF Belt.
Alimkhanuly vs Gualtieri Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Vincenzo Gualtieri +1000
- Zhanibek Alimkhanuly -2000
My Pick
The 30-year-old Alimkhanuly, who now fights out of Oxnard, California, enters the ring with a perfect record of 14-0 with 9 Ko’s and has boxed 81 rounds since making his pro debut in 2016. Prior to that he enjoyed a fine amateur career as he represented Kazakhstan at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he was beaten in the quarterfinals. He also won a gold medal at the 2013 World Championships where he beat Anthony Fowler and Jason Quigley.
Alimkhanuly reached the quarterfinals of the 2015 World Championships, 2015 Asian Championships and 2010 World Youth Championships, won a gold medal at the 2013 Asian Championships and 2014 Asian Games and also fought in the 2015 World Series of Boxing for Astana Arlans. He stands just over 5-feet-11-inches tall with a 71.5-inch reach and has also won the WBC Continental Americas and WBO Global Middleweight Belts as a pro.
He’s a solid puncher with a good chin as he carries around a current knockout ratio of 64.3 per cent and had stopped six straight six opponents before going the distance with Bentley. Alimkhanuly also has wins over Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Milton Nunez, Vaughn Alexander, Steve Martinez, Cristian Olivas, Stuart McLellan and Rob Brant. He’s an excellent boxer with speed, power and fine boxing skills and appears to be entering the prime of his career at the moment.
As for Gualtieri, the native of Wuppertal, is also 30 years old and owns a near-perfect mark of 21-0-1 with 7 Ko’s. He turned pro back in 2015 following a fine amateur career and has boxed 158 rounds since his debut. He clocks in below average though when it comes to power as his current knockout ratio stands at just 33.3 per cent. He’s gone the distance in his past nine fights with his last stoppage coming in 2019. The lone blemish on his record is a 10-round draw with Thomas Piccirillo in 2020 to retain his German Middleweight Title.
At just over 5-feet-10-inches tall with an unlisted reach, Gualtieri gives up an inch in height to his fellow middleweight champion. Since turning pro he’s captured the vacant German Middleweight Title, and the vacant IBO Continental, and IBF Inter-Continental Middleweight Belts. Gualtieri has never fought outside of his homeland as a pro and will be taking a big step up in class as his biggest wins have been over European-level opponents such as Falcao, Billi Godoy, Vincenzo Bevilacqua and Sofiane Khati.
Prediction…
Alimkhanuly hasn’t been a pro for long but has plenty of amateur experience and is a solid boxer in all areas. Gualtieri has a good chin and he’ll probably need it as he doesn’t have the power to keep Alimkhanuly off of him for a whole 12 rounds. I’m expecting Alimkhanuly to leave the ring with his undefeated record intact with another victory while adding the IBF Belt to his collection with the best bet being by stoppage.
Play Alimkhanuly -2000 @ BetOnline.ag
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Vincenzo Gualtieri betting • Zhanibek Alimkhanuly betting