Osleys Iglesias (right) added to his formidable reputation with a second round stoppage of Sena Agbeko in Aug. 17. (Photo by Vincent Ethier)
Last year, Osleys Iglesias was an unknown Cuban hero living in Germany. Those who knew him believed in his ability, but he had not had the opportunity to step out of the shadows.
Fast forward to today, and that's no longer the case. Iglesias signed with Montreal-based promoter Camille Estephan's Eye of The Tiger earlier this year.
The Iglesias have been kept active ever since. He drank three times in five months, which is unheard of by today's standards, and the results were good, as the rise has been meteoric. Iglesias (12-0, 11 knockouts) is now ranked No. 3 at super middleweight by The Ring and in the top 15 by two of the four sanctioning boards. The 26-year-old also holds the coveted IBO title.
While some fighters show anger in their debut, whether it's against the top players or a new team, that's not the case for Iglesias.
His EOTT knockout came in March against Marcelo Coceres, a tough Argentine who gave WBO super middleweight title holder Billy Joe Saunders all kinds of trouble and was leading one of the cards before being knocked out in the 11th round.
Coceres also shared the ring with several other top fighters – defeated, of course, but giving all tough outings, including Edgar Berlanga (L UD 10), Erik Bazinyan (L UD 10), Meiirim Nursultanov (L UD 10) and rising power Diego Pacheco (L KO 9).
Iglesias needed just over two minutes to knock Coceres down, take him down and stop him with a left hook.
“I felt satisfied with that performance,” he said. “I was the fastest boxer [to stop him] in his professional career. [He has been] good fights and almost knocked out Berlanga.”
The winning streak led to an immediate turnaround, and Iglesias was compared to the previously beaten Evgeny Shvedenko in June. The staunch Russian was expected to put up a strong resistance. He had just tasted defeat to William Scull in the IBF championship and took Scull the full 12 rounds.
This time, Iglesias hurt Shvedenko with the most devastating first-round knockout of any year.
In appelle la Tornade
This K.-O. or 1er round d'Osleys Iglesias sur Evgeny Shvedenko nous donne encore des frissons…
–
We call him TornadoOsleys Iglesias' first round KO over Evgeny Shvedenko still gives us chills…#ButlerVolny | #EottmArmy pic.twitter.com/i0HqeRu4E8
— Eye of the Tiger (@eottm_boxing) June 7, 2024
“I'm very happy that I was able to give Canadian fans two amazing tournaments,” he said. “Shvedenko is a good boxer and a very good defender.
“I am very happy that the tactics I learned with my coach, Georg Bramowski, worked well. You can't force a knockout. I want to punch well and exploit all the gaps in my opponent's game.”
Agbeko was stopped by David Morrell in two rounds last December, although the Ghanaian was still standing when the ref entered. It left a margin of error in terms of doing that, but that's exactly what Iglesias did. He knocked Agbeko down in the opening round – the first knockdown of his career.
Así se vio y oyó desde ringside el KO of Osleys Iglesias and Sena Agbeko
@trboxeo #ESPNKGet out #MbilliDerevyanchenko pic.twitter.com/ZM99x8dwne
– ESPN KnockOut (@ESPNKnockOut) August 18, 2024
When Agbeko was out of the first round, it was only to sit and be killed and stopped in the second. The finish came 27 seconds faster, in fact, than what happened to Morrell. Iglesias later said that wasn't on his mind, but it seemed like it was. The message has been sent.
Watching those three fights, which have spanned four rounds of action, you can't help but wonder how Eye of The Tiger will be able to fend off his future opponents.
“It was difficult from the beginning,” said Estephan. “People know him. It is very difficult to find competitors. You have to shell out the dollars, because it's no picnic.
“We want to speed him up and put him in a position to be mandatory, because he will never be invited.”
Iglesias-Agbeko takes place on the scrap undercard between the promotion's Christian Mbilli vs. Sergiy Derevyanchenko. He won't play second fiddle to anyone for long.
In fact, Iglesias is next slated to headline his own show in Montreal on November 7.
Along with the work that plays an important role in the development of a fighter, it also helps to keep them in the public mind.
You just need to think about Morrell. In the past, he seemed to be interested in the super middleweight division, but he has been fighting only twice a year since his debut in 2019. So he was never able to build on that momentum.
Iglesias is hot, and he will try to keep things going smoothly. The question now is, who will answer the call to face him in the fall? There will be a very thin line of willing participants, that's for sure.
Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].
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