Hamzah Sheeraz had been in line for a fight with unified IBF and WBO middleweight titleholder Janibek Alimkhanuly. That’s not the route he chose. 

 

Two weeks ago, Sheeraz pulled out of the WBO’s purse bid. Earlier this week, Sheeraz’s expected new destination was made official — he will challenge WBC titleholder Carlos Adames as part of the big seven-fight card headlined by the Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol rematch on February 22 in Riyadh.

There were two reasons for this move, according to Frank Warren of Queensberry Promotions.

 

“One, I obviously feel he can win the fight,” . “And two, we’ve got the fight on Saturday which is now becoming a final eliminator, and the winner of that will fight for the WBO title.”

 

The fight Warren is referencing is on December 7 between Brad Pauls and Denzel Bentley, who are ranked first and second at middleweight by the WBO. Bentley faced Alimkhanuly once before, losing a unanimous decision in November 2022.

“So we get two bites of it, and hopefully if it all goes to plan, we get two Brits holding world titles and we can make a really, really, really good quality unification fight,” Warren said.

Adames (24-1, 18 KOs) scored victories in recent years over Sergiy Derevyanchenko, Juan Macias Montiel and Julian Williams. The victory over Montiel earned Adames the WBC’s interim middleweight belt. Adames was upgraded to full titleholder in May after Jermall Charlo was stripped. For his first defense, Adames outpointed Terrell Gausha in June.

 

Sheeraz (21-0, 17 KOs) has stood out as the middleweight division’s top prospect and looks to be a bona fide contender in a weight class that is otherwise lacking in depth. In September, he stopped Tyler Denny in two rounds on the undercard of Daniel Dubois-Anthony Joshua.

 

“I believe that [Sheeraz] can win this fight. It won’t be easy at all, by the way,” Warren said. “He’s in with a good, good quality fighter. He’s in a good place. He’s had good grounding, good schooling. This is the time to do it for him. This should be his time. But it’s a tough fight.”

 

David Greisman, who has covered boxing since 2004, is on Twitter and . He is the co-host of the . David’s book, “,” is available on Amazon.