Osleys Iglesias (left) and Petro Ivanov (right) flank Eye of the Tiger promoter Camille Estephan (center) – Photo by Vincent Ethier
The calm before the storm. A Tornado is coming and unbeaten Petro Ivanov intends to silence it.
The unbeaten German-based super middleweight will step into the ring with fast-rising Osleys Iglesias in the main event on Thursday on ESPN+ at the Montreal Casino, Montreal.
“I have unique boxing style, Iglesias has never fought against a fighter like me,” Ivanov (18-0-2 knockouts) said at Tuesday’s press conference. “I am not a piece of cake. I am going to give a great fight on Thursday.”
The 28-year-old has been a professional for a decade, fighting at home, where he went 9-0-2.
His big-break came when he went on the road to France and stopped highly-touted Louis Toutin (TKO 9). He then found a new home in Germany but although he has continued to fight he hasn’t been able to get a bigger fights and has been inactive for 12-months heading into this fight.
“I haven’t fought in a long time because I didn’t get the fights what I wanted,” he explained. “My manager gave me this opportunity and I took this fight immediately.”
And he hopes to use this shot at one of the top 168-pounders to advance his own claims.
“I always dream about being a world champion and I want to present myself on the international level,” he said.
Iglesias, rated at No. 3 by The Ring at super middleweight, was a talented amateur in his native Cuba before turning professional in Germany in 2019. In just his sixth fight he dominated faded former two-time world title challenger Isaac Chilemba (UD 12). The 26-year-old southpaw moved on up by stopping Ezequiel Maderna (KO 1), Andrii Velikovskyi (TKO 10) and Artur Reis (KO 4).
After signing with Eye of The Tiger, he scored first-round knockouts of respected contenders like Marcelo Coceres and Evgeny Shvendenko after he began fighting in Canada. His last opponent was Sena Agbeko, who made it out of the opening round but was quickly vanquished in the second.
Iglesias-Ivanov, plus undercard bouts, will be on ESPN+ and punchinggrace.com at 6.30 p.m. ET/ 3.30 p.m. PT and on TVA Sports in Canada from 7:00 p.m.
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Osleys Iglesias looks for a more stern test in his clash against Petro Ivanov on Thursday
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Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].
