The IBF is not wasting any time determining undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez’s next mandatory challenger.
The sanctioning body has approved for the winner between Cuba’s
Osleys Iglesias (13-0, 12 KOs) and Russia’s Vladimir Shishkin (16-1, 10 KOs) to be the No. 1 contender.
Iglesias promoter and Eye of the Tiger Management head Camille Estephan told The Ring on Friday that he’s negotiating a deal with Shishkin promoter Dmitriy Salita for the fight to be staged by July in Canada.
“We want the fight to happen soon,” Estephan told
The Ring in an interview. “The IBF asked us if we are interested in the fight and we are currently in discussions with Salita. Hopefully we will be able to close the deal. The No. 1 position in the IBF is always the mandatory challenger. I think Iglesias is going to knock out Shishkin — and everyone else. We just have to keep doing what we are doing, keep the pressure, keep Iglesias active and show his skills.
"The fans want him to be in the bigger fights, and we will get him there. Everyone knows how dangerous and avoided Iglesias is. We’re getting to the point where they have to fight him now, and that’s exciting for us. We’ll be sitting pretty after beating Shishkin.”
Iglesias is
ranked No. 3 by The Ring at 168 pounds. Over the last 14 months, the 27-year-old power-punching southpaw has crushed Marcelo Coceres, Evgeny Shvedenko, Sena Agbeko, and Petro Ivanov, each by KO in a combined nine rounds.
Shishkin, The Ring’s No. 7-ranked super middleweight, last fought for the vacant IBF belt in October and lost a unanimous decision to William Scull, who leveraged the win for a payday in a listless effort against Alvarez earlier this month.
Alvarez vacated his IBF title last year to fight Edgar Berlanga instead of his mandatory Scull.
Estephan also promotes super middleweight knockout artist Christian Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs), ranked No. 1 in his class by The Ring and preparing for a June 27 fight against Maciej Sulecki (33-3, 13 KOs) for the WBC interim title.
As Mbilli and Iglesias gain better angles and leverage, Estephan says he’s “cornering the market” with his contenders being viable options for clashes against Alvarez after the Mexican star’s
planned September superfight against Terence Crawford. Manouk Akopyan is The Ring’s lead writer. Follow him on X and Instagram: @ManoukAkopyan