Photo: Vincent Ethier – Osleys Iglesias (13-0, 12 KOs) did what he does best last Thursday night, stopping Petro Ivanov (18-1-2, 13 KOs) in the 5th round.
The promo said the tornado was coming, and the result confirmed it had indeed arrived. On the evening of November 7, Osleys ‘El Tornado’ Iglesias successfully defended his IBO world title for the third time, handing Petro Ivanov his first career defeat.
Réjean Tremblay mentioned it this summer, and Jean-François Teotonio and Katherine Harvey-Pinard from La Presse reminded us this week: Osleys Iglesias has a promise to keep. When he left Cuba for Germany five years ago, he promised that at their next meeting, he would be a unified world champion.
So, I’m now taking over in the quest for an opponent who could help the Tornado himself, Osleys Iglesias, take another step toward fulfilling that promise…
Jaime Munguia
I’d be lying if I said I find Munguia (44-1, 35 KOs) realistic in the short term. The pride of Tijuana must first win in front of his home crowd in December against Bruno Surace (25-0-2, 4 KOs), the 3rd best Frenchman in the division.
Logically, a fight with Christian Mbilli would make more sense. Mbilli is more well-known and with Top Rank, but despite this, we remember that after defeating Bazinyan, Munguia seemed hesitant about facing ‘Solide,’ preferring to mention Caleb Plant and Edgar Berlanga instead…
Still, this will be Osleys’ choice, so I must pass along the message.
Steven Nelson
Now let’s move to my friend Laurent Poulin’s choice at Boxingtown Quebec.
The pride of Omaha, Nebraska, brings many interesting elements to the table. First, Nelson (20-0, 16 KOs) is undefeated in 20 fights, just as Ivanov was a few days ago. Next, the visibility would be good south of the border, as he’s American, and as Marc Ramsay once said, “Americans love watching Americans.”
He’s also ranked 15th by the WBO, a ranking Iglesias, who’s 5th WBC and 7th IBF, has yet to break into. Lastly, he’s 36 years old, so he has no time to lose in getting a significant fight.
Bonus: he’s Terence Crawford’s best friend, so there’s no doubt that the pound-for-pound champion would accompany him to Montreal…
Vladimir Shishkin
On X (formerly Twitter), a popular boxing influencer named @ATokkers5, with nearly 5,000 followers, shared his two suggestions after the fight:
‘Vladimir Shishkin or Vladimir Shishkin.’
And it makes a lot of sense! Camille Estephan hopes to see Iglesias break into the IBF top 5 following his win over Ivanov. Shishkin (16-1, 10 KOs) recently lost a close decision to William Scull for the same IBF title. As we recently saw with Karen Chukhadzhian (147 lb) and Jerome Pampellone (175 lb), the IBF likes to give its contenders a second eliminator fight, even after a loss in the first. Could we see a similar situation at 168 lbs?
Plus, the IBF has just ordered a Mbilli-Pacheco fight for the 1st position in its ranking. Knowing the New Jersey federation, this also means that the elimination fight for the 2nd position should not be too far away…
Shakeel Phinn
Yes, it’s him again! This suggestion comes from William Dumoulin at BoxingnewsQC, who, true to his page’s name, picked a Quebecois boxer.
But it actually makes a lot of sense, as the avid boxing fan already knows that Osleys Iglesias has all the talent in the world, but to make it known to the general public, what better than a local fight?
And it’s not just a local matter after all. Since his match against Erik Bazinyan, the Jamaican ‘Juggernaut’ is ranked 13th by the WBC, where the ‘Tornado’ is in 5th position. As Will mentioned to me, it remains to be seen if Phinn (26-3-2, 17 KOs) would be willing to risk his highest career ranking for the IBO title…
Zach Parker
Since I needed to do a bit of work myself, here’s my suggestion. A bit like Phinn in Quebec, or as was said about the choice of Mark Heffron for Christian Mbilli, it’s important for Osleys Iglesias to make a name for himself and ‘show to the UK what he can do.’
I won’t lie, I’ve been dreaming of a Mbilli-Parker fight for a few years, especially since both men have outclassed Vaughn Alexander and Rohan Murdock. But now that we’re here, why not with Iglesias?
It’s true that Parker (25-1, 18 KOs) is ranked 13th IBF at 168 lbs but also 4th WBO at 175 lbs. We know how big Iglesias is for a super middleweight, so it would also be an opportunity to see him against another big 168 lb fighter.
That said, Parker might stay cautious, seeking a major local fight against one of his many British peers. I’m therefore open to matching Iglesias against Callum Simpson (15-0, 10 KOs), ranked 14th IBF and 8th WBA, Mark Jeffers (18-0, 5 KOs), ranked 9th IBF, or Steed Woodall (19-2-1, 12 KOs), ranked 13th WBO.
However, it would probably take at least an eliminator fight to lure one of them out of King Charles III’s territory.
