New Faces: Osleys Iglesias

Oct

by Anson Wainwright |

OSLEYS IGLESIAS

Age: 25

Born: Matanzas, Cuba

Hometown: Bispingen, Germany

Weight class: super middleweight

Height: 6-foot-2 (189 cm)

Amateur record: 184-16

Turned pro: 2019

Pro record: 8-0 (7 knockouts)

Trainer: Georg Bramowski

Manager: Tornado Fighting GmbH / Markus Rese / Wolf-Dieter Jacobi

Instagram: @osleysiglesiaestrada

Best night of pro career and why: Iglesias is most pleased with his most recent performance against Andrii Velikovskyi in Gilwice, Poland on December, 2022.

“[It was] the first pro title in my career – unforgettable,” Iglesias told The Ring. “My opponent was very motivated and stood up to me in the first rounds. In the fourth round there was the key scene. After a headbutt of my opponent, I suddenly had a cut above my left eye. But this injury didn’t throw me off my game. On the contrary. I boxed consistently from long distance and hit better and better. My opponent held out for a long time and took an enormous beating. In the 10th round it was over and I was the winner by TKO.”

Worst night of pro career and why: The 25-year-old southpaw is largely happy with how his professional career has mapped out so far. However, there was an instance in one of his fights that he feels he could have dealt with better but he was able to learn from it in a later contest.

“In my fight [with Robert Racz] I hit my opponent quickly hard,” he said. “After the knockdown I wanted to finish the fight very quickly, which I did. But my coach was not satisfied because I had boxed too impetuously against a good opponent.

“In the fight against Isaac Chilemba, I did better. Chilemba boxes very defensively and is hard to hit. When he went down, I decided to continue boxing calmly and with concentration. I succeeded and won the fight clearly on points.”

Osleys Iglesias (right) – Photo courtesy of Polsat Boxing

What’s Next: Will face fellow unbeaten Artur Reis on a SES show in Magdeburg, Germany on Saturday.

It’s been a frustrating period for Iglesias, who will snap a 10-month hiatus from boxing.

Reis (11-0, 8 KOs) is a Russian born athlete who moved to Germany and took part in kick-boxing as well as amateur boxing before turning professional in 2018. The 30-year-old has fought middling opposition but does have wins over once-beaten David Faraci (TKO 1) and previously unbeaten Bruno Knjezevic (RTD 4).

Iglesias is more proven and a better all-around fighter and will be expected to win. However, it will be interesting to see how he looks and if he can get the stoppage.

Why he’s a prospect: Oglesias was a talented amateur. He twice won the Cordova Cardin tournament and four times the Silver Torneo Nacional Playa Giron. He represented Cuba vs. Russia in 2018 and was awarded the best fighter. He also claimed gold at the won the World Cup in Germany and was again named fighter of the tournament.

During his amateur days he shared the ring with two of his of his illustrious countrymen.

“I boxed once against David Morrell and won the fight,” he said. “I fought Arlen Lopez four times. They were exciting and high-class fights. Lopez was the better in the first two fights. In the third and fourth fight I was stronger and saw myself as the winner. The spectators cheered me. I was still very young and Lopez was already world champion and Olympic champion. He must have had a bonus with the judges.”

The Cuban feels three key areas help him standout from the crowd: “The combination of technical skills, speed and punching power.”

His coach Georg Bramowski, who worked with former world champions Yoan Pablo Hernandez and Arthur Abraham, feels he has a very well-rounded fighter.

“His great strength is his irrepressible will to win, his mental strength,” said Bramowski. “He has an enormous reach, is fast and hits very hard. He is technically variable, can end a fight quickly or determine the fight over 12 rounds. We are fine-tuning various things and will continue to build on his strengths.”

As with any fighter with 200 amateur fights, he has mastered the basics and is clearly a talented fighter. It is still early but the signs are positive. The southpaw possesses good fundamentals and power. Hopefully his team are able to move him at a good enough pace and secure bigger fights to help him grow.

Why he’s a suspect: The main thing for Iglesias is being active and gaining experience inside the ring. He won’t want extended periods like the one he’s coming off to hinder his development. He has had 8 fights in a four-year career, which is not enough and needs to be busier.

He will have fought fighters from different parts of the world during his amateur days but now he’s a pro boxer in Europe it wouldn’t hurt him to get sparring and training camps overseas to keep him sharp.

Iglesias appreciates he’s not the finished article and there is still work to be done.

“I want to improve in all areas,” he said. “There is always room for improvement. Never stand still.”

Osleys Iglesias (right) – Photo courtesy of Polsat Boxing

Storylines: Iglesias was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. His early years have made him who he is today.

“In my childhood, sport was already part of everyday life, my mother was a track and field athlete, before I was born, she won gold in Cuba in the 100 meters” he revealed. “I also started. I think I have talent in it, I am a good long-distance runner. I played baseball and tried karate.

“When I was 7-years-old I decided to take up boxing. From the age of 8, I was mostly only at home on the weekends. I lived first in the boarding school in Matanzas and from the age of 14 in the boarding school of the sports school in Havana. I learned very early to train a lot and hard. I have learned a lot and gained a lot of experience.”

Although he was a gifted amateur he was stifled and took a page out of some of his compatriots play books. After the end of a tournament in Cologne, Iglesias broke away from the team.

“No one knew anything about it,” he said. “The team traveled back to Cuba and I remained in Germany.

“I wanted to fulfil my dream of becoming a champion in professional boxing.”

Life in Germany is very different from in Cuba.

“You can see a clear difference when you look at the thermometer,” he said laughing. “The sub-zero temperatures in winter were a shock for me. But I have adjusted quite well to it and then I noticed that in Germany there are a lot of good cars on the roads. In Germany, everything is well organized and regulated.

His wife, Lucy, is with him in Germany but he is away from other loved ones.

“I talk to my mom and my sister on the phone every day,” he said. “I would like to visit them again in Cuba one day and hold them in my arms.”

He has two boxing idols, one of which he hopes will one day tie into his ultimate goal in boxing.

“My boxing hero is Muhammad Ali,” he said. “But my favorite boxer is Saul Alvarez, even though I will fight him one day and beat him.

“[I want to win] all titles in super middleweight. There are some very good boxers in my weight class. I would like to box against Caleb Plant, David Benavidez or Edgar Berlanga. I’m ready for those fights. But at the top, of course, is Saul Alvarez. I would like to be in the ring against him one day.”

Away from boxing, Iglesias enjoys spending time with his wife, who he married in September 2022, notably relaxing with a TV series or writing music lyrics.

Fight-by-Fight record

2022

Dec. 9 – Andrii Velikovskyi – TKO 10

Sept. 24 – Ezequiel Osvaldo Maderna – KO 1

May 27 – Isaac Chilemba – UD 12

Feb. 19 – Robert Racz – KO 1

2021

Dec. 11 – Rafael Sosa Pintos – TKO 1

2020

Feb. 8 – Bernard Donfack – TKO 2

2019

Nov. 9 – Rafael Bejaran – KO 2