IF Hamzah Sheeraz is to fight for his first world title on February 22 it will not be against unified middleweight champion Zhanibek Alimkhanuly.

It was revealed today by new WBO President Gustavo Olivieri that Queensberry Promotions’ George Warren advised, on behalf of Sheeraz, that the fighter ‘will withdraw the mandatory’ against the WBO champion. This cancelled today’s purse bids and the Committee is to reconvene to determine what they will do next.

The Kazakh holds the WBO and IBF titles and is now into his second year as a dual titlist. Alimkhanuly, 16-0 (11 KOs), was promoted to full WBO champion in August 2022 after Demetrius Andrade failed to defend his title against the former amateur star. And in October 2023 he became unified champion beating Vincenzo Gualtieri in six rounds.

Fans had hoped to see Sheeraz square off against Zhanibek. (Getty Images)

Sheeraz, 21-0 (17 KOs), will now be removed from the WBO mandatory spot opening the door for number two contender Denzel Bentley who fought and lost to Zhanibek in November 2022. Bentley fights Brad Pauls for British and (vacant) European middleweight honours on December 7 and promoter Frank Warren has promised a world title shot for the winner.

It is now expected that the 25-year-old Sheeraz will go in a different direction. This leaves the strong possibility that the WBC number one contender will move forward to challenge Carlos Adames for his WBC world title in February.

Adames, 24-1 (18 KOs), became WBC champion when Jermall Charlo was stripped of his title in May. This promoted the Las Vegas-based Dominican, like Alimkhanuly two years ago, to full champion status. The 30-year-old made a successful first defence of his green and gold belt with a unanimous decision win over Terrell Gausha in June at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas as part of the Gervonta Davis-Frank Martin undercard.

Sheeraz was last out at Wembley Stadium ripping the European title from the hands of Tyler Denny in just two rounds in another dominant performance. Last week Sheeraz wrote on social media about his future, “Lots of rumours about potential fights. I leave all negotiations to my promoter Frank Warren and my advisors in Spencer Brown and Adil Ditta while I grind away in camp. One thing I can say is come February I will be a world champion In Sha Allah.”

Rumours of another bumper Riyadh Season card in February continue to float around. Fighters linked to that date in Riyadh include Daniel Dubois, Hamzah Sheeraz, Terence Crawford and Vergil Ortiz Jr.