Photos: Vincent Ethier – Are you not entertained, Quebec City?
After Osleys Iglesias’ resounding two-round TKO victory over Sena Agbeko at the Videotron Centre in Quebec on August 17, the young Cuban’s name has begun to resonate loudly in the boxing world. With an undefeated record of 12-0 and 11 knockouts, and being the current IBO Super Middleweight World Champion, Iglesias has shown that his punch and technique will place him among the most feared fighters in the division.
Now, the big question is: who will be next to face the Cuban ‘Tornado’?
Here are five possible rivals who could be the next challenge for Iglesias in his definitive rise to the elite of world boxing.
Kevin Lele Sadjo (23-0, 20 KOs)
I’m leaning towards the 34-year-old Frenchman as my first choice, because he would be a formidable challenge for Iglesias. The fight would constitute a notable leap in quality for both in terms of the rivals they have faced, since Lele Sadjo, despite being a born knockout artist, has not yet added any really big or interesting names to his resume, and is currently ranked number three in the WBC, where Osleys is fifth, so the winner would be facing the World Title. He was EBU Super Middleweight Champion a year ago, a title he defended twice. His most notable victory was against the British Jack Cullen in 2021. While his last fight was won by unanimous decision against the Argentine Durval Elías Palacio. The biggest obstacle for this possible fight would be his promoter Yohan Zaoui (Y12 Boxing), who does not seem keen to book Sadjo outside of France.
Demetrius Andrade (32-1, 19 KOs)
This would be a dream fight for the Cuban, as Andrade has been one of the most avoided boxers in the divisions he has played in. His fighting style makes him a high caliber elusive fighter, so Osley’s athletic ability to diminish Andrade’s footwork would be at stake. At 36 years old, he has been World Champion in two weight classes (Super Welterweight and Middleweight). His only foray into Super Middleweight was in his last fight, where he was knocked out by David Benavídez, and here lies the main doubt, as after this Andrade has not stated whether he intends to stay in the division or go down to the next lower one.
Bektemir Melikuziev (14-1, 10 KOs)
This Uzbek former Olympic medallist is coming off a fight on the Haney vs. Garcia card last April, where he defeated the previously undefeated Pierre Hubert Dibombe. He is currently ranked fifth in the WBA Super Middleweight rankings. At some point, he was scheduled to fight on the August 10 card that was headlined by the fight between Vergil Ortiz and Serhii Bohachuk, but for some reason it was not possible. He spends his time calling out the big names in the division on social media and argues that none of them want to face him, so he certainly wouldn’t hesitate to face a man like Iglesias. The question here is whether Oscar de La Hoya, who promotes him, would give him the go-ahead knowing the risk it would entail, since another defeat would completely remove him from the public eye.
Steven Nelson (20-0, 16 KOs).
He is one of those boxers who has always been under the radar, even after his knockout victory against the previously undefeated Marcos Vázquez Rodríguez, last August 3 at the Riyadh Season Card in Los Angeles, many people did not know who he is. The 36-year-old veteran knows how to make a living inside the ring. He is originally from Omaha and one of Terence Crawford’s best friends, both spent the same period under Top Rank, and after his departure, “Bud” inserts him at the bottom of all his cards. He has taken away the undefeated record of several prospects, which makes him a real danger.
Carlos Góngora (22-3, 17 KOs)
A more realistic option here. Of course, the Ecuadorian knockout artist just got dominated by Lester Martinez (18-0, 15 KOs), but Martinez is now booked for another ProBox card on September 11 against undefeated but obscure American Joeshon James (9-0-2, 5 KOs). As for Góngora, since Martinez wasn’t able to take him out of there, he still kept his warrior aura. Plus, he’s well known by the adopted Quebec crowd of Iglesias because of his war of 2023 with Christian Mbilli.
Three for the road:
Luis J. Rodriguez Fernandez (13-0, 11 KOs)
The 27-year-old Puerto Rican is ranked 11th by the WBA, but isn’t even top 100 on Boxrec. It’s weird to think about it, but Osleys Iglesias isn’t even ranked by the WBA, so Fernandez could be one of the cheapest ticket entries available out there for him…
Simon Zachenhuber (24-0, 14 KOs)
The undefeated German is ranked top 15 by the WBA and top 10 by the IBF. I doubt he would take the kind of risk that Iglesias is representing, but you never know. Plus, Iglesias is now living and training in Germany so be a ‘local fight’ if Eye of the Tiger wants to go to Europe.
Shawn McCalman (15-1, 7 KOs)
It seems like EOTTM wants to play the comparison game to showcase Osleys Iglesias skills, as pointed out last June by my friend at Punching Grace, McCalman bring an interesting one since he makes Diego Pacheco struggle for a few rounds in their April 10-round fight.
Conclusion, Iglesias has shown that he has the talent and power necessary to face the best in the super middleweight division and after the three victories obtained by knockout this year, he shows that he is ready for the next level.
Now are these top-level fighters are themselves ready for ‘El Tornado’ Osleys Iglesias? Only time will tell.
