Osleys Iglesias makes the first defense of his IBF super middleweight title against Oliver Zaren on Thursday, October 8, at Théâtre Capitole in Quebec City, with his IBO belt also on the line. The Eye of the Tiger card streams live on DAZN internationally and on Punching Grace in Quebec.
What’s at stake
Iglesias won the vacant IBF title in April when Pavel Silyagin retired after eight rounds. Thursday is his first defense of that belt and the fifth of his IBO title, according to the promotion.
Zaren arrives ranked fifth by the IBF at 168 pounds, per FightMag. In a statement on the Punching Grace event page, he said he will come to Quebec City not as a visitor but as a conqueror.
The case for each fighter
Iglesias, a 28-year-old Cuban, is 15-0 with 14 knockouts. He earned his title shot by stopping Vladimir Shishkin in the eighth round, then took the belt from Silyagin.
Zaren, a 26-year-old Dane, is 19-0-1 with eight knockouts. His last fight was a technical draw with Jose Luis Navarro Jr. in June, an outdoor bout stopped after the third round because of weather. Iglesias has stopped 14 of 15 opponents and Zaren has stopped eight of 20, which makes finishing rate the sharpest contrast between them.
The co-feature is a local draw. Quebec City’s Wilkens Mathieu (16-0, 11 KOs) defends his NABF super middleweight title against Shishkin (17-2, 11 KOs), who is coming off a seventh-round knockout of Bernardo Jimenez Suarez in May. Mathieu said he feels “ready to beat anyone in the world at 168 pounds,” according to FightMag.
Full fight card
| Bout | Division | Rounds and titles |
|---|---|---|
| Osleys Iglesias (c) vs. Oliver Zaren | Super middleweight | 12 rounds, IBF and IBO titles |
| Wilkens Mathieu (c) vs. Vladimir Shishkin | Super middleweight | 10 rounds, NABF title |
| Leïla Beaudoin (c) vs. Brisa Alfonzo | Women’s super featherweight | 10 rounds, interim WBA title |
| Imam Khataev (c) vs. Padraig McCrory | Light heavyweight | 10 rounds, NABF title |
| Dzmitry Asanau (c) vs. Luis Santana | Lightweight | 10 rounds, IBF Intercontinental, WBC Continental Americas and NABF titles |
| Thomas Chabot (c) vs. Jose Antonio Sanchez | Featherweight | 10 rounds, WBC Continental Americas title |
| Daylen Pepin vs. Matias Pinilla | Lightweight | 4 rounds |
| Jacob Blais vs. Yoan Trottier | Welterweight | 4 rounds |
How to watch
DAZN carries the card around the world, and Punching Grace streams it in Quebec. Our boxing events this week roundup has the rest of the schedule, including Schofield vs. Bahdi on Saturday.
