Hamzah Sheeraz may have escaped Janibek Alimkhanuly only to find an equally dangerous fight waiting for him. Lester Martinez is built to attack the exact weaknesses Sheeraz protects with his height and long jab.
“I expect that Hamzah Sheeraz will be offered a shot at the WBC Interim Super Middleweight Title against Lester Martinez,” Queensberry’s Dev Sahni posted on X.
The question is whether Sheeraz will accept. He surrendered his WBO middleweight belt after Queensberry won the Janibek purse bid for $1,001,809. Moving directly into another high-risk fight against a lesser-known opponent makes little commercial sense unless the WBC position or purse is especially valuable. Martinez is high danger with zero mainstream profile, which cuts directly against Queensberry’s protective matchmaking.
Lester is pure poison for a fighter trying to preserve an unbeaten record on the final stretch of a contract. He offers almost zero international casual recognition, hits like a mule, refuses to back down, and would demand ten to twelve rounds of sheer physical attrition. Taking that risk on a modest interim title purse when the Canelo sweepstakes are floating in the distance would be promotional malpractice.
Waiting out the final bout on the Queensberry deal for a hand-picked, comfortable opponent on a Riyadh Season card fits the pattern perfectly. It cashes a safe check, protects the clean record, and sets him up to test free agency or migrate straight into a Zuffa Boxing platform. Once you reach that stage, pitching a tall, marketable British contender against Canelo Alvarez is an easy sell at Wembley or in Las Vegas, producing generational money without ever having to trade inside hooks with dangerous dogs like Janibek or Lester Martinez.
The thing is, if Sheeraz turns up his nose at an offer to fight Lester, the hardcore fan base will tear into him without mercy, and the backlash will be far worse this time because a pattern has formed.
When a fighter avoids one boogeyman, casual observers might buy the promotional spin, sanctioning body politics, or purse bid gripes. Passing on Osleys Iglesias was easy enough to dismiss because fighters reject informal advice from champions all the time. But surrendering an actual world title to walk away from Janibek stripped away that protective cover. It signaled to everyone following the division that avoiding high danger took priority over undisputed status.
Turning down Lester Martinez immediately afterward would blow the remaining credibility to pieces. Martinez may not carry mainstream name recognition, but every serious boxing fan watched him go to war with Christian Mbilli. They know exactly what kind of fighter he is: a relentless, durable pressure machine.
If Sheeraz says no to Martinez after turning his back on Janibek, the narrative cements permanently:
First, the label of being an overly protected, manufactured contender will stick. Hardcore fans on message boards, YouTube channels, and social feeds will treat any future win over a fringe contender as completely hollow.
Second, the excuse well has run completely dry. He used Janibek’s past testing issues to soft-pedal walking away from that mandatory. Martinez brings zero controversy, holds an open path to a WBC interim strap, and fights in Sheeraz’s new weight class. Turning that down leaves only one logical conclusion for fans: fear of getting exposed before the big cash-out arrives.
Third, the UK crowd will grow restless. British fans love nothing more than a warrior who takes hard fights on the road. If Sheeraz ducks two consecutive high-grade punchers just to wait in line for a Canelo lottery ticket, he loses the genuine respect of the ticket-buying public. They will view him as a business-first operator looking for a payday rather than a real fighter willing to test his mettle against the best.
