Unbeaten fighter who left foe convulsing with scary KO in line to box Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford winner

Osleys Iglesias has punched his way into a potential fight with the winner of Canelo Alvarez vs Terence Crawford.

The heavy-handed Cuban blasted away former world title challenger Vladimir Shishkin in the eighth round of an IBF eliminator on Thursday night at Casino Montreal.

AFP

In victory, Iglesias has been boosted to No.1 in the IBF super middleweight rankings, putting him in an incredibly strong position to become the mandatory challenger for one of the four belts Canelo and Crawford will be competing for on September 13.

Post-fight, Iglesias took the opportunity to call out whoever emerges victorious from the blockbuster showdown, which he expects to be Canelo.

“I think I made a statement. If he[Canelo] doesn’t want to fight with me, it’s not because I don’t give a good show,” said Iglesias.

“It’s because he’s scared. I’m a young boxer, I’m hungry, I have a good punch.

“If he doesn’t want to fight with me, it’s because he might be scared that I’m too young and too strong for him.”

Who is Osleys Iglesias?

Iglesias (14-0) is one of the hardest punchers in the division and has finished 13 of his 14 fights inside the distance.

Durable Malawian contender Isaac Chilemba is the only man to have seen the final bell against Iglesias when they locked horns in 2022.

Since then, he has knocked out his last eight opponents, including one of the most brutal stoppages of 2024 against Evgeny Shvedenko.

In the opening stanza of their bout in Montreal, Canada, Iglesias caught Shvedenko with a clubbing blow on the top of the head that left the Russian fighter convulsing on the canvas.

Shvedenko was subsequently rushed to the hospital, where he thankfully made a full recovery before returning to the ring four months later to beat fellow countryman Sergei Gorokhov.

ESPN Knockout

The knockout went viral, amassing millions of views online, and put Iglesias’ name on the map.

Prior to that, he had picked up the IBO super middleweight trinket, with a 10th-round TKO victory over Andrii Velikovskyi in December 2022.

He remains in possession of the lesser belt, defending it for a fourth time against Shishkin last week.

The only other defeat on Shishkin’s solid 16-2 record was a contentious unanimous decision loss to William Scull for the IBF super middleweight belt last October.

His résumé includes wins over former IBF 168lbs world champion José Uzcátegui and WBA ‘regular’ title challenger Sena Agbeko.

The ease with which Iglesias dealt with Shishkin proves he is ready to challenge the upper echelons of the division.