Zhanibek Alimkhanuly vs Erislandy Lara Preview Dec. 6th, 2025
There’s a good middleweight unification bout on tap this Saturday, December 6th as unbeaten Zhanibek Alimkhanuly of Kazakhstan puts his IBF and WBO Titles on the line against WBA Regular Middleweight Champion Erislandy Lara of Cuba. The 12-round battle between the southpaws takes place in San Antonio, Texas and can be seen live on Amazon Prime pay-per-view and PPV.com. Alimkhanuly last fought in April when he stopped Anauel Ngamissengue in the fifth round. Lara’s last outing saw him stop former world champion Danny Garcia after nine rounds. Alimkhanuly stopped Vincenzo Gualtieri in the sixth round in October, 2023 to take his IBF Belt after winning the WBO version in 2022 via a unanimous decision over Denzel Bentley. Lara captured the vacant WBA Crown in 2021 when he stopped Thomas LaManna in just 80 seconds
Alimkhanuly vs Lara Betting Odds
Here are the betting odds from online sportsbook BetOnline.ag (full review here).
- Erislandy Lara +391
- Zhanibek Alimkhanuly -600
My Pick
The 32-year-old Alimkhanuly, who now fights out of Oxnard, California, enters the ring with a perfect record of 17-0 with 12 Ko’s and has boxed 101 rounds since making his pro debut in 2016. Prior to that he enjoyed a fine amateur career as he represented Kazakhstan at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where he was beaten in the quarterfinals. He also won a gold medal at the 2013 World Championships where he beat Anthony Fowler and Jason Quigley.
Alimkhanuly reached the quarterfinals of the 2015 World Championships, 2015 Asian Championships and 2010 World Youth Championships, won a gold medal at the 2013 Asian Championships and 2014 Asian Games and also fought in the 2015 World Series of Boxing for Astana Arlans. He stands just over 5-feet-11-inches tall with a 71.5-inch reach and has also won the WBC Continental Americas and WBO Global Middleweight Belts as a pro.
He halted Steven Butler in the second round in May, 2023 defend the WBO Belt after winning the interim title a year earlier by stopping Danny Dignum in the second round and beating Denzel Bentley by unanimous decision in his first defence. He’s a solid puncher with a good chin as he carries around a current knockout ratio of 70.6 per cent and had stopped six straight six opponents before going the distance with Bentley and has stopped all four of his opponents since. Alimkhanuly also has wins over Hassan N’Dam N’Jikam, Milton Nunez, Vaughn Alexander, Steve Martinez, Cristian Olivas, Stuart McLellan and Rob Brant.
The 42-year-old Lara is also a southpaw who now fights out of Houston, Texas. He climbs into the ring with a mark of 31-3-3 with 19 Ko’s under his belt. He’s elusive in the ring with a lot of boxing skills but doesn’t have too much in the way of one-punch power even though 61.3 per cent of his victories have come by stoppage. That may be a little hard to digest though since he’s stopped his last four opponents but has gone the distance in four of his last nine outings. Lara stands just 5-feet-9-inches tall with a 75-inch wingspan and is also a former IBO and WBA Junior Middleweight champion.
Therefore he gives up 2.5-inches in height to his opponent but has a 3.5-inch edge in reach. He won the IBO Junior Middleweight Belt by beating Delvin Rodriguez via unanimous decision in June, 2015 and captured the interim WBA title in June, 2013 by stopping Alfredo Angulo in the 10th round after being dropped in the fourth and ninth rounds. He defended his belts against the likes of Yuri Foreman, Vanes Martirosyan, Delvin Rodriguez, Ishe Smith and Jan Zaveck.
Meanwhile, Lara’s three defeats have all been controversial and came at the hands of former world champ Jarrett Hurd by split decision in April, 2018, to Paul Williams by majority decision in 2011 and a split decision to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in 2014. He also fought to a nine-round technical decision draw with Vanes Martirosyan in 2012, a 10-round majority draw with Carlos Molina a year earlier and a 12-round draw with Brian Castano in 2019.
Lara is an excellent technical boxer and his power may be a bit underrated. He’s boxed 245 rounds since turning pro in 2008. Before that he enjoyed an excellent amateur career in which he won numerous titles, including three straight national crowns in Cuba as a welterweight. He has a bit of an awkward style but has become more fan friendly lately by letting his hands go and throwing more power shots. He’s sometimes dominant, too defensive and hard to hit and that can lead to boring fights.
Prediction…
Alimkhanuly hasn’t been a pro for long but has plenty of amateur experience and is a solid boxer in all areas. He possesses speed, power and fine boxing skills and appears to be entering the prime of his career at the moment. Lara is also a superb boxer and oddly, he’s shown more power as he ages. He also has much more experience against stiffer pro opposition. Alimkhanuly is 10 years younger than Lara though and naturally more aggressive. I’m expecting him to leave the ring with his undefeated record intact and while a stoppage may be hard to achieve it’s still a possibility.
Alimkhanuly is 10 years younger and more aggressive.
Play Alimkhanuly -600 @ BetOnline.ag
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Erislandy Lara betting • Zhanibek Alimkhanuly betting