Eye of the Tiger recently took stock of a record-breaking year. Among its 23 athletes, the Montreal-based stable counts 17 world contenders, including three world champions.
The numbers don’t lie. And it’s not just the four major world boxing federations saying it—specialized website BoxRec also places 16 Tigers in the top 40 of the world rankings in their respective weight classes.
“An imperfect tool, but an impartial one,” Camille Estephan once told me.
There’s no need to further explain just how much EOTTM excelled over the past year. I already did that in a press release (HERE). For Punching Grace, I wanted to explain why it excelled in 2025.
But first, a brief clarification of expectations for 2026.
Photo: Vincent Ethier – Antonin Décarie, Osleys Iglesias and Camille Estephan
The time has come
I spoke with Camille Estephan on the phone.
He described 2025 as a “pivotal year” for his company.
It’s true—17 world contenders is something we’ve never seen before in Quebec.
But it’s not an end goal.
“We talked a lot about our climb this year, and the results are there… but in 2026, the climb is over. Now it’s time to take over at the top,” he told me.
In hockey terms, it’s announcing that the rebuild is over.
But where did the need for that rebuild come from?
Toward a new golden age
For nearly 15 years, in the early 2000s, Bute, Pascal, Stevenson, and Lemieux packed the biggest arenas in Quebec.
Photo: Vincent Ethier – David Lemieux
The excitement knew no borders. HBO, Showtime, and sometimes ESPN (but only on Fridays) were all part of the picture. In hindsight, some have described that era as the golden age of Quebec boxing.
“The problem is that we realized our sport depended on its stars. Obviously, the ultimate goal is to create stars—but we didn’t want to depend on just one guy anymore,” recalls the former promoter of David Lemieux.
“So we created a system to avoid those boom-and-bust cycles,” continues Camille Estephan.
It’s a bit like the Montreal Canadiens, who for nearly 15 years were propped up almost entirely by the performances of goaltender Carey Price.
Like the Habs
In this piece, we talk a bit about the Canadiens, because Quebecers only think about that. It’s the old Réjean Tremblay trick. Since boxing remains somewhat misunderstood, you sprinkle in hockey references here and there and make sure everyone’s on the same page.
So there you have it.
In 2021, unable to rely any longer on their superstar Carey Price, the Montreal Canadiens decided to start over—entering a rebuild. Jeff Gorton was hired, then Kent Hughes, then Martin St-Louis. Several players left the ship. Draft picks poured in by the dozen and eventually turned into promising young prospects.
All of this to say that in 2021, EOTTM did something very similar.
Photo: EOTTM – Marc Ramsay and Christian Mbilli
“The system”
Much like Gorton and Hughes, Camille Estephan and Antonin Décarie hired Marc Ramsay in 2021 to steer the Tigers.
More importantly, to put the system in place.
The focus was placed on specific weight classes—lightweight (135 lbs), super lightweight (140 lbs), super middleweight (168 lbs), and light heavyweight (175 lbs)—while maintaining a presence in nearly every division, from 135 to over 200 pounds.
The next step was recruiting in a way that avoided relying on a single boxer or a single schedule.
How? In three stages—literally.
By recruiting different boxers ready to win in the short, medium, and long term.
“We were underdogs for a long time. What we’ve built now is a machine designed to win at the top level—guys who won’t just reach big fights, but who will be favorites in many of them for at least the next 10 years,” explains the founder of EOTTM.
Nearly five years later, what does the lineup look like?
Photo: Vincent Ethier – Albert Ramirez and Camille Estephan
The first line
Of course, the promoter acknowledges that it’s still up to today’s boxers to deliver. Fortunately, some of them already have.
In terms of world champions, EOTTM already has three:
Christian Mbilli is the interim WBC super middleweight world champion, and the word “interim” should disappear after his next fight. The question is against whom, since Sheeraz seems to have a preference for Pacheco.
Osleys Iglesias is already the IBO super middleweight world champion and will have a chance to add the IBF title at his next outing. Canelo, Munguia, Sheeraz, and Williamson have all said no. Will Pavel Silyagin accept? Laurent Poulin, who is not his manager, believes so. To be continued.
Albert Ramirez is the interim WBA light heavyweight world champion. He will face Lerrone Richards, the talented pariah of British boxing, on February 5. With a win, combined with Benavidez’s move to cruiserweight and Bivol’s return, things could move quickly at 175 lbs in 2026.
Photo: The Ring – Imam Khataev and David Morrell
“In the mix”
Speaking of 175 lbs, Imam Khataev and Mehmet Unal aren’t far behind Ramirez.
Camille reminds me that Imam was robbed against Morrell, which caused a minor technical setback.
Now at 168 lbs, to quote Geoff Molson, Steven Butler appears to be back in the mix for a big fight.
And when you say mix and big fight, you say Arslanbek Makhmudov. Since his win over Dave Allen, rumors have linked him to Anthony Joshua and now Tyson Fury.
Rumors or not, the return of the Lion, who also defeated Olympian Ricardo Brown in 2025, already proves a point, according to the president of EOTTM.
“For EOTTM, as long as we believe in our boxer—and as long as he still believes in himself—he’ll always get another chance to come back,” Camille Estephan told me.
Photo: Vincent Ethier – Arslanbek Makhmudov
Makhmudov and Butler are obvious examples, but still.
Leïla Beaudoin is coming off a loss, but it was against the best fighter in the world and in front of 15 million viewers. That’s a pretty victorious defeat—the phone is likely to ring again very soon.
On that note, no one has rebounded more impressively than Steve Claggett. Coming back from injury, he’ll return before the end of winter and, with a win, put his name back into the hat for big fights at 140 lbs. In that same hat is Arthur Biyarslanov, who was recently in discussions for a fight against Keyshawn Davis. One division below, it’s the same story for double Olympian and top-five world contender Dzmitry Asanau, who also appears ready to win in the very short term.
And then there’s Lenar Perez—less talked about because we haven’t seen him yet—but already ranked in the top three in the world at cruiserweight (200 lbs).
Finally, straddling the line between contender and prospect, keep an eye on EOTTM’s representative at 147 lbs, Christopher Guerrero. He’s not one fight away from a world title yet, but he’s closer than one might think. Ranked 25th on BoxRec at welterweight, he’s already higher than Manny Pacquiao and Paddy Donovan were when they last fought for world titles.
Photo: Vincent Ethier – Christopher Guerrero
The third wave
Then comes the third gear of the system.
At 168 lbs, there are Wilkens Mathieu and Moreno Fendero. Still in their early twenties, they’re already world-ranked and could take over from Mbilli, Iglesias, and Butler sooner rather than later.
At 140 lbs, behind Claggett and Biyarslanov, Jhon Orobio looks well positioned to become one of the next fan favorites in Quebec.
Same story at 135 lbs with the arrivals of Wyatt Sanford, Luis Santana, and Avery Martin Duval. Not to mention presences at 160 lbs (Alexandre Gaumont), 130 lbs (Erik Israyelyan), and 126 lbs (Thomas Chabot).
In short, the system is about building a team with champions, the next wave, and the wave after that.
“Guys who will reach the top—and stay there for a long time,” Camille Estephan told me.
A key sentence that inspires this final point.
Photo: Zuffa Boxing – Christian Mbilli
“Quebec loves winners”
Canadiens fans—yes, yes, again—love their Danaults, Bolducs, Montembeaults (when he wins), and their cousin Texiers.
Of course, because it’s their world.
But last April, it was still Ivan Demidov’s number 93 jersey that broke the Canadiens’ sales record. Proof that it takes all kinds of people to build a winning team, and proof that…
“Quebecers love winners,” the head of EOTTM often tells me.
Including injuries, the Canadiens have seven Quebec-born players out of 27. Out of 23, EOTTM has nine boxers from the Quebec Olympic Boxing Federation, plus five others who chose to settle in Montreal full-time once their pro careers got underway.
Nine Quebecers and five adopted Quebecers—that’s a lot, considering there are fewer boxers than hockey players here.
“But in the end, whether it’s Demidov or Bolduc scoring the big goal, the Canadiens win. And whether it’s Khataev or Mathieu winning the big fight, if EOTTM wins, all of Quebec comes out on top,” a big fan of both sports once told me.
Which means EOTTM, and all of Quebec, won 52 times out of a possible 58 last year. That was the year of the climb to the summit. Imagine what happens when they take ownership of the mountain.
Like we say in Quebec, «ça sent la Coupe».
Photo: Vincent Ethier – Jhon Orobio
