Janibek Alimkhanuly might now be the man to beat at 160 pounds.
The 30-year-old from Kazakhstan knocked out Vincenzo Gualtieri in the sixth round to unify the IBF and WBO titles Saturday in Fort Bend Epicenter in Rosenberg, Texas.
Alimkhanuly (15-0, 10 KOs) took a few rounds to get rolling but, once he did, he overwhelmed his German counterpart.
The beginning of the end came in Round 5, when Alimkhanuly a southpaw, dropped and hurt Gualtieri (21-1-1, 7 KOs) with a counter left uppercut.
Gualtieri survived the round but he took a series of unanswered shots in Round 6 that prompted referee David Fields to stop the fight.
The official time of the stoppage was 1:25.
Alimkhanuly now wants more middleweight belts. Erislandy Lara and Jermall Charlo hold the WBA and WBC titles, respectively.
“This is my style of fighting,” the winner said. “This is (Kazakh) style, and this is what I will continue to do. We knew from the beginning that he wasn’t going to fight back. He was waiting because he thought I was going to get tired. But I didn’t get tired.
“We would like to add another two belts to this collection. We hope that our promoter Top Rank can organize that.”