JANIBEK Alimkhanuly is three weeks away from his latest world title defence, a unified middleweight champion on a seemingly never-ending pursuit of undisputed status at 160lbs, but as this interview begins, there's something he wants to get off his chest.

As for the topic, well, we've been here before. Asked about when camp started for this contest, his first time training through the holy month of Ramadan with a scheduled fight date as world champion, Alimkhanuly (16-0, 11 KOs) acknowledges the feat while downplaying its significance on preparations.

Through a translator, he told The Ring: "I'm well-prepared with training to be ready on April 5, we even now switched to another coach to become a mixed adoption of Mexican style more than the current Kazakhstan-style boxing, becoming a new hybrid approach. Generally, I'm not stopping because if you stop, you will lose.

You have to highlight Anauel's world ranking and position within boxing, he's unbeaten and will also be well-prepared for this, I wish him good luck and honestly I'm thankful that he even decided to accept this invitation, my challenge."

Janibek, who previously aligned with Brian Viloria and Buddy McGirt before him, will continue basing himself in California under new management in Marco Contreras.

Current trainer to former light-heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvodzyk and notably an assistant to three-division world champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, he's the man tasked with implementing new skills to the 31-year-old's game.

The newly-formed partnership makes sense, given they already know him and considering Janibek's manager Egis Klimas has a longstanding relationship with the Mexican national, who too resides in the Golden State.

So why did this come now, two fights and a year after changing coach last time?

"My training involves a lot of complex preparations and in this job, change is inevitable. This isn't the first and won't be the last time we do it, you have to be very good to deal with any adaptations, prepared and flexible in styles because to beat opponents across the world, you must learn more and align with different boxing styles, we're growing and the sport is too, requiring new coaches."

"He [Marco] knows us and helped a lot when we started our career in the US so now's the chance to learn the Mexican style a little bit," Janibek's older brother adds.

That repeated use of the phrase Mexican style points to his compatriot and mentor Gennadiy Golovkin, once a long-reigning unified middleweight champion himself, who took a while before becoming an ever-present theme in boxing circles. Janibek, who turns 32 during fight week, knows time is of the essence.

As has been the case in several bouts now, the defending WBO/IBF titlist is a considerable favourite against fellow 2016 Olympian Anauel Ngamissengue (14-0, 9 KOs), whose inactivity and strength of schedule raises questions about how competitive this unbeaten showdown will ultimately prove.

WBA titleholder Erislandy Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs) could return on the Canelo-Scull undercard in May, while the WBC have called on Carlos Adames to defend his title against Janibek's compatriot Meirim Nursultanov (20-0, 11 KOs) after his split draw against Hamzah Sheeraz last month.

The Ring reported this week that Sheeraz is set for a move up to super-middleweight, a possibility Janibek may also pursue in the near future if unable to secure the long-awaited unifications he so dearly wishes for after this upcoming defence.

On activity and the future, he said: "We're ready to fight three or four times a year, honestly these questions should be asked directly to the promoters but our team is prepared for everything. 160-pounds is my meridian but I can move forward to 168 or go back to this weight, if anyone challenges me up there, I'm ready."