“What a shame”: Hamzah Sheeraz branded ‘scared’ for vacating title rather than fighting mandatory

Oscar Pick

“What a shame”: Hamzah Sheeraz branded ‘scared’ for vacating title rather than fighting mandatory
Image credit: Getty

Hamzah Sheeraz has been accused of running scared after refusing to face his WBO mandatory challenger and, in turn, vacating his world super-middleweight title.

The Brit claimed his belt in May, stopping overmatched challenger Alem Begic in two rounds, before defending it with a majority decision victory over Simon Zachenhuber in July.

He was then ordered to face leading contender Janibek Alimkhanuly, who was stripped of his IBF middleweight title after testing positive for banned substance meldonium last November.

But despite being cleared to retain his WBO belt, the Kazakh instead decided to move up in weight and become the mandatory challenger at 168lbs.

In response, Sheeraz labelled this as an unfair ruling by the WBO, who has come under fire for its lenient handling of Alimkhanuly’s doping case.

Regardless of this heavy backlash, though, the sanctioning body held a purse bid hearing after promoters Queensberry and Top Rank failed to reach a deal.

As a result, Frank Warren’s Queensberry submitted a winning bid of $1,001,809, with Sheeraz entitled to the lion’s share of a 75/25 split as the defending champion.

It was announced yesterday, however, that the 27-year-old has now relinquished his WBO strap, just as Alimkhanuly’s long-term manager, Egis Klimas, had predicted he would.

Taking to social media, Klimas even went as far as to accuse Sheeraz of being fearful of Alimkhanuly, rather than just feeling disgruntled by the financial offer and general situation.

“Ha, I was right: if you scared yesterday, you scared today and you will be scared tomorrow. Couple things you can’t train in boxing: chin and scariness. Been informed [Sheeraz] vacated WBO title. What a shame!!!”

While the WBO is yet to respond accordingly, it is likely that Alimkhanuly will be ordered to face Diego Pacheco, the next highest-ranked contender, for Sheeraz’ old title.

More stories