{"id":1186310,"date":"2026-09-04T16:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1186310\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T16:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T16:11:11","slug":"hamzah-sheeraz-granted-extension-for-talks-to-face-former-champion-who-failed-doping-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1186310\/","title":{"rendered":"Hamzah Sheeraz granted extension for talks to face former champion who failed doping test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hamzah Sheeraz<\/a> is seemingly edging closer towards making a mandatory defence of his WBO title, despite having accused the relevant sanctioning body of being \u201ccorrupt\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Brit became a world champion in May, scoring a second-round finish against the overmatched Alem Begic, who seemed largely undeserving of a major title shot at 168lbs.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Sheeraz claimed the vacant belt and made a voluntary defence in July, with Simon Zachenhuber proving an awkward challenger before losing a majority decision.<\/p>\n

It then came as a controversial ruling when the 27-year-old was ordered to defend his title against Janibek Alimkhanuly<\/a>, who failed a doping test late last year.<\/p>\n

In response, the WBO issued a year-long suspension but allowed the Kazakh to retain his world middleweight title, given that he is a \u2018first-time offender\u2019.<\/p>\n

Since then, though, Alimkhanuly has vacated his belt and moved up to 168lbs, where he leapfrogged top contender Jacob Bank and became the mandatory challenger.<\/p>\n

Sheeraz then responded by accusing the WBO of handling the situation with preferential treatment, which president Gustavo Olivieri has rather unsurprisingly denied<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Taking to social media on Thursday, Olivieri also stated that all relevant parties are moving forward with the ordered bout between Sheeraz and Alimkhanuly.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cPlease be advised that Top Rank [Alimkhanuly\u2019s promoter] and Queensberry Promotions [Sheeraz\u2019 promoter] have jointly filed a petition requesting a one-week extension to continue negotiations toward reaching an agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cAccordingly, the parties are granted an extension until Thursday, September 10, 2026, no later than 5pm Atlantic Standard Time (AST), to finalise and submit an agreement to the WBO.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Re: Sheeraz\/Zhanibek<\/p>\n

Please be advised that Top Rank and Queensberry Promotions have jointly filed a petition requesting a one-week extension to continue negotiations toward reaching an agreement.<\/p>\n

Accordingly, the parties are granted an extension until Thursday, September 10,\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Gustavo Olivieri, Esq. (@OlivieriLaw) September 3, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

If no agreement is reached by this deadline, then the WBO will order a purse bid hearing and allow other organisations to compete for promotional rights.<\/p>\n

Sheeraz has previously admitted that vacating the belt is an option.<\/a> Speaking on the Ariel Helwani show<\/a>, he criticised the sanctioning body in no uncertain terms.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a joke. I think what the WBO have done here is disgraceful to the sport of boxing as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they\u2019re essentially doing is rewarding someone who\u2019s been popped [for a banned substance].<\/p>\n

\u201cI suppose it comes down to ulterior motives and corruption\u2026 I feel like it\u2019s all based on personal relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Brit\u2019s next move will become clearer over the next seven days.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hamzah Sheeraz is seemingly edging closer towards making a mandatory defence of his WBO title, despite having accused…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1186311,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,79,16,15],"class_list":["post-1186310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117213651601142956","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1186310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186310\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1186311"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1186310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1186310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1186310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}