With Hamzah Sheeraz relinquishing his world title last week, the WBO’s two highest-ranked available contenders have now been ordered to collide for the vacant belt.
Initially, Sheeraz was ordered to defend his super-middleweight strap against Janibek Alimkhanuly, who became the WBO’s mandatory challenger after moving up from 160lbs.
This was in spite of him testing positive for banned substance meldonium last November, for which he was stripped of his IBF middleweight title but permitted to keep hold of his WBO belt.
Naturally, the WBO has since come under fire for its handling of the situation but, regardless, Alimkhanuly remains in pole position to challenge for world honours at 168lbs.
Instead of facing Sheeraz, though, the Kazakh has now been ordered to collide with Jacob Bank who, perhaps most notably, scored a 12th-round finish over William Scull earlier this year.
According to sanctioning body president Gustavo Olivieri, the two unbeaten contenders have two weeks to negotiate terms, otherwise their ordered clash will go to a purse bid hearing.
“Please be advised that the WBO World Championship Committee has ordered negotiations between [Janibek] Alimkhanuly and the first AVAILABLE contender, WBO [No.3] world-rated Jacob Bank, to vie for the vacant WBO [super-middleweight title].
“The parties are granted 15 days to negotiate and reach an agreement. Should an agreement not be reached within the prescribed period, purse bid proceedings will be ordered accordingly.”
Re: Vacant WBO Super Middleweight (168 lbs.) World Championship
Please be advised that the WBO World Championship Committee has ordered negotiations between Zhanibek Alimkhanuly and the first AVAILABLE contender, WBO #3 World-Rated Jacob Bank, to vie for the vacant WBO Super…
— Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. (@OlivieriLaw) September 22, 2026
As the WBO’s No.2-ranked contender, Diego Pacheco would have been notified about the world title opportunity but, instead, it seems the 25-year-old will be facing Darius Fulghum on November 14.
