Now that the super-middleweight world titles have all been picked up following Terence Crawford’s retirement, fans are hopeful that unification bouts could be around the corner, but in the eyes of one champion’s promoter, that is unlikely.
Crawford trumped Canelo Alvarez in a legacy-defining fight last September, becoming the first three-weight undisputed champion since Henry Armstrong in 1938 – ‘Homicide Hank’ being the first in the history of boxing to complete the feat.
Having cemented his place amongst the greats, Crawford hung up the gloves, retiring with his undefeated record intact and respected as a modern sporting icon.
Boxing had to move on, and it did so quickly, with four new champions now in possession of a super-middleweight world title; Christian Mbilli (WBC), Osleys Iglesias (IBF), Jaime Munguia (WBA) and Hamzah Sheeraz (WBO).
In September, Canelo will attempt to become champion again when he challenges Mbilli for the coveted green and gold WBC strap. The other three major champions do not currently have fights set.
Speaking with Boxing News, Iglesias’ promoter, Camille Estephan, who also promotes Mbilli, revealed why he believes the Cuban southpaw, boasting a record of 15-0 with 14 KOs, may struggle to find a willing and available challenger.
“People recognise his skill, that is why they don’t want to fight him. When you look at the last few opponents, he fought Silyagin; when he fought Silyagin, nobody wanted to fight Silyagin – a technical fighter from Russia that people don’t know, very good defensively. He got destroyed, literally. He couldn’t see with one eye at the end of the fight, he couldn’t breathe and he couldn’t hear.
“The prior fighter who fought him, [Vladimir] Shishkin, was very highly regarded, an up-and-comer who at one point people thought was going to clean up the division. He was certainly a very, very strong fighter, also very good defensively, he got literally destroyed during the fight with Iglesias. You only need to look at the images.
“Then you see the guy, [Evgeny] Shvedenko, who got a draw with Silyagin. He was knocked out in a very scary fashion, we were very, very worried about him. Every single guy that he has fought, he has destroyed. The people that are fighting him, they are never the same after that.
“We understand the hesitation for many of the top echelon fighters. I think that he is just going to continue doing that and then the fans are going to recognise that this is the guy – the guy that is on the top of the hill.”
Recently at the IBF’s 41st annual convention in Vietnam, Troy Williamson was invited to negotiate a final eliminator with Diego Pacheco for a shot at the belt, but it seems as though the Darlington-based operator will be unable to participate, with his long-awaited Callum Simpson rematch now being mooted for July.
Continuing, Estephan gave praise to Williamson for his guts, declaring that he is ‘one of the few people on the planet’ who is confident enough to take on Iglesias.
“With regards to Troy Williamson, I am hearing a lot of different things. I don’t know what his next move is, but with Iglesias, Troy was willing to fight him, so kudos to him. He is one of the few people on the planet that wants to fight Iglesias.”
With few challengers daring to call for a shot at the undefeated 28-year-old, Estephan admitted that both he and his fighter are looking towards the other super-middleweight world champions, in the hope of securing unification bouts. However, that energy has not been reciprocated.
“What I can say about Iglesias is that he wants to fight other world champions. He has the IBF and IBO titles but it seems as though Munguia wants nothing to do with Iglesias and Sheeraz, even more so. They talk about wanting to unify, but when they hear Iglesias, they forget what unification is.
“They would rather fight anybody but Iglesias. He is clearly the bogeyman of boxing.”
“We want Iglesias to defend his title and we want Iglesias to be in a position where he becomes unavoidable. Sheeraz and Munguia were talking about unifications until they heard of Iglesias, so maybe they will fight each other, but they can run and they cannot hide.”
One potential option for Sheeraz and Munguia is to face one another on the Canelo-Mbilli undercard. Iglesias’ possible addition to that September 12 show means all four of the 168lb straps could be up for grabs on the night.
Billed as the ‘Mexico vs. The World’, Iglesias would presumably need to source a Mexican challenger, with former WBA champion Armando Resendi sticking out as the most obvious option if Estephan and Turki Alalshikh are indeed planning for Iglesias to fight on the undercard.
