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Add FightsATW on GooglePromoter Camille Estephan has described his two super-middleweight world champions as a two-headed monster in the weight class.
IBF belt holder Osleys Iglesias secured his first world title by retiring Pavel Silyagin after eight rounds of one-way action in Montreal this past April. Four months earlier, Christian Mbilli was elevated to become the WBC champion to give Estephan’s Eye of the Tiger Management half of the spoils at 168 pounds.
Both men have their first title defense scheduled in the coming months. Mbilli (29-0-1, 24 KOs) will collide with Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on October 31, while Iglesias (15-0, 14 KOs) welcomes Danish contender Oliver Zaren to Quebec on October 8. However, like many of Iglesias’s opponents, Zaren will come to challenge the Cuban southpaw following multiple rejections.
“We would have liked to have done a unification fight with either [Jaime] Munguia or [Hamzah] Sheeraz,” Estephan told FightsATW in an exclusive interview. “Although when they hear the name Iglesias, they become deaf, I guess. It happens with many fighters, so I have to give props to Zaren. He believes he is going to win the fight, and he’s ready for us to defend the IBF and the IBO titles, and he wants them all. We are fortunate to have this two-headed monster in Mbilli and Iglesias coming after the division, which is the Queen of boxing right now.”
Zaren (19-0-1, 8 KOs) is currently ranked in fifth place by the IBF, where first and second place are vacant. Kevin Lele Sadjo and Malik Zinad are ahead of the 26-year-old southpaw in third and fourth places.
“Zaren comes from a very solid team, whose fighters are always ready and strong,” Estephan explained. “We expect him to put on a good fight. We expect a very ready Zaren. We know he is super motivated and he really believes in his chances. That’s what fighters should be all about! We’ve had a lot of fighters not wanting to fight our fighters, but I guess it’s a compliment. Like I’ve said for the last couple of years, Iglesias is the boogeyman of boxing, and he wants to prove it even further.”
Sheeraz holds the WBO title, and Munguia sits as the WBA champion at the time of writing.
“This is a fight we would have liked to have put on the undercard of Mbilli-Canelo with either of them,” Estephan continued. “Munguia was a flat-out ‘no’. With Sheeraz, we didn’t even get to have a conversation. Every name you can think of at 168 pounds has refused Iglesias at least once. I’ve seen a lot of people running lately. He just wants to fight and beat people up. He’s willing to fight different people in the same night, back-to-back-to-back. I’m serious, he’s a real fighter.”
Mbilli’s long-chased bout with Canelo witnessed a change of date from September to October. Following a clear unanimous decision loss to Terence Crawford nearly a year ago. Boxing’s biggest star is perceived by many to be on the decline after a sustained period as the ‘King’ of the super middleweight division.
“Canelo is a very proud champion,” Estephan added. “He’s not the face of boxing for nothing! He deserves all the accolades and has been an ultimate professional since he was very young. We are expecting Canelo to come in desperate to become a champion again. We have to be realistic about this. We certainly aren’t expecting Canelo to be coming into the fight as a weakling to give us a silver-plated victory. We think it will be the opposite. This will be one of the best fights in boxing for decades.
“The fight was moved to a few weeks later, so it wasn’t a big deal. Nobody will have any excuses, and everyone will be ready. Canelo will be coming off a good camp. The reason I was given was that there was a personal issue that he had to deal with, and that’s that.”
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