This weekend is a busy stretch in the sport of boxing, but it’s also a stretch without a true marquee fight. Despite the lack of one big fight, there are plenty of familiar names who will be in action, including unified middleweight champion Janibek Alimkhanuly and former junior middleweight champ Tim Tszyu.
Alimkhanuly is making a return to Kazakhstan where he will defend his IBF and WBO titles against Anauel Ngamissengue. Tszyu will also be fighting in his home country, facing Joey Spencer in a return to Australia after a pair of losses in America.
Over in England, heavyweights will be in action as Joe Joyce takes on Filip Hrgovic, who is stepping in on late notice after Dillian Whyte was forced to withdraw from the bout.
Let’s take a quick look at those three main event fights.
Boxing stock watch: Which fighter has the best chance to emerge from a crowded group of 154-pound contenders?
Brian Campbell
Janibek Alimkhanuly (c) vs. Anauel Ngamissengue, IBF and WBO middleweight titles
Location: Barys Arena — Astana, Kazakhstan | Time: 10 a.m. ET | Stream: ESPN+
Alimkhanuly (16-0, 11 KO) sits as a -1100 favorite, which is honestly a bit of a steal. Ngamissengue (14-0, 9 KO) is undefeated but he is getting a shot at the middleweight king after beating 12-32-2 Sandro Jajanidze in his most recent outing. The hope for a Ngamissengue win is rooted in a 2023 majority decision win over Fiodor Czerkaszyn, who is a solid fighter. The Czerkaszyan fight was an eight-rounder, marking the longest fight of Ngamissengue’s career (his lone 10-round fight ended in the seventh round).
Middleweight is in a sad state currently, but Alimkhanuly is the current standout in the division. He captured the WBO interim title in 2022 with a win over Danny Dignum before being elevated to full champion. After two defenses of that belt, Alimkhanuly stopped Vincenzo Gualtieri to add the IBF belt to his collection. He has since made one successful defense of his unified titles and now returns home to fight in Kazakhstan for the first time since his second professional fight.
Prediction: Alimkhanuly via TKO6
Joe Joyce vs. Filip Hrgovic, heavyweights
Location: Co-op Live Arena — Manchester, England | Time: 2 p.m. ET | Stream: DAZN
Joyce (16-3, 15 KO) seemed to be on his way to world title fights as he came up through the ranks and scored huge knockouts of Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker. Since the Parker fight, Joyce has lost to Zhilei Zhang by knockout twice and dropped a decision to a well past his prime Derek Chisora in a fight where Joyce suffered a knockdown. Joyce’s only win in that stretch was a stoppage of unheralded Kash Ali.
Hrgovic (17-1, 14 KO) was on the cusp of a world championship opportunity when he ran into Dubois in June 2024. Dubois battered Hrgovic in their interim IBF title bout until the fight was stopped by the ringside doctor. Now, Hrgovic is stepping up on short notice in an attempt to get back in the win column and try to find his way back into the title picture.
Prediction: Hrgovic via KO8
Tim Tszyu vs. Joey Spencer, junior middleweights
Location: Newcastle Entertainment Centre — New South Wales, Australia | Time: 10 p.m. ET | Stream: Prime Video
Tszyu (24-2, 17 KO) was a rising star in the sport as a young champion with an exciting style and a Hall of Fame pedigree as the son of Kostya Tszyu. Then came 2024. Tszyu was supposed to face Keith Thurman in a March 2024 fight but Thurman was forced to withdraw from the fight and Sebastian Fundora stepped in on late notice. Tszyu was doing well against Fundora until he was caught by an accidental elbow that opened a deep cut. With the injury clearly affecting him, Tszyu became less effective and lost a mildly controversial decision — and his WBO title. Tszyu looked to bounce back in a fight with IBF champion Bakhram Murtazaliev only to see Murtazaliev blitz him from the opening bell. Tszyu was knocked down three times in the second round and once more in the third before the fight was stopped.
Tszyu now needs to work his way back toward the title picture in a very deep junior middleweight division and his quest starts with a fight against Spencer (19-1, 11 KO). Spencer’s biggest fight came in March 2023, when he was stopped in the seventh round by Jesus Ramos. Spencer rebounded from that loss with three straight wins, most recently taking a majority decision win over Miguel Angel Hernandez.
Prediction: Tszyu via TKO4
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