Janibek Alimkhanuly believes Chris Eubank Jr could be 'running' from a world title fight and admits he has more 'respect' for rival champion Vincenzo Gualtieri.
WBO king Alimkhanuly can again display his explosive power in a middleweight unification fight against IBF title holder Vincenzo Gualtieri in Texas, live on Sky Sports, in the early hours of Sunday morning.
After stopping Liam Smith in a rematch, Eubank Jr is the WBO no 1 challenger for Alimkhanuly, who has held the WBO title since August 2022, but the big-hitting Kazakh has questioned whether the British contender will face him.
"I don't see Eubank Jr as a good fighter," Alimkhanuly told Sky Sports.
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"If he's running from me, it means he's in a lower position than Gualtieri, because he's a champion and he came to fight with me.
"So, I have more respect for my opponent.
"But if fighters are running from me, it means they are in a lower position."
Alimkhanuly insists he is not concerned why potential opponents could be reluctant to accept a fight, but intends to 'do damage' at middleweight before stepping up in weight to pursue a big name such as Saul 'Canelo' Alvarez.
"The question has to go to all of the opponents who turned me down and who do not want to come to the ring," he said.
"I am just a fighter. I want to make a history for [his nickname] 'Qazaq Style'.
"I just wanted to become one of the best at what they do.
"I don't have any pressure.
"I feel strong. I feel that I have everything that it takes to do here.
"And my goal is to take all four titles in the middleweight division to be undisputed and then I wanted to go into one weight class up and do some damages there as well.
"I would like to go into different weight classes, maybe even up to four different weight classes. It's important for me to fight good names like Canelo [Alvarez], [David] Benavidez, the guys in the bigger weight classes."
Gualtieri has racked up 21 victories, with a solitary draw as the only blemish on his record, but Alimkhanuly expects to break the German's resistance inside 12 rounds.
"We studied my opponent very well", said Alimkhanuly.
"He changes his style - he goes to southpaw then he turns orthodox, he's running a lot, but I didn't see anything that surprised me.
"All of his parts are weak parts.
"Of course, we're going to try to find the knock-out.
"I'm going to come in and I'm going to try to show everything that I can and everything that they want.
"It's not a pleasant thing when you train for two months and then you come in the ring and you cannot show what you are capable of.
"I'm thinking this fight is not going to go 12 rounds."
Watch Janibek Alimkhanuly vs Vincenzo Gualtieri in the early hours of October 15, live on Sky Sports.