Rising super middleweight Osleys Iglesias will make his Eye of The Tiger debut against former world title challenger Marcelo Coceres at the Montreal Casino, Montreal, on Thursday.

Iglesias, rated at No. 10 by The Ring at super middleweight, welcomes the new dawn of his career against the battle hardened Argentine opponent.

“I think it’s a good start for me in Montreal,” Iglesias (9-0, 8 knockouts) told The Ring. “A very good opponent, he showed in his former fights – Billy Joe Saunders, Edgar Berlanga, Meiirim Nursultanov and Diego Pacheco – he can deal with very good opponents. I saw the fights and am respectful but I came to Montreal to win.”

The 26-year-old Cuban, who defected to Germany, has made quite the impression in Europe, having had a stellar amateur career.

So far, Iglesias has 34 rounds of professional action and hopes to continue his development in Canada.

“Of course, I am young as a professional but I had a very long amateur career with 200 fights,” he explained. “I beat for instance (super middleweight contender David) Morrell or other great professional fighters (in the amateurs).

“I have good experience but it is good for me to have such opponents. I had the (Isaac) Chilemba fight and had him down but decided, ‘OK, I can win on points. I don’t need a knockout.’ Most of my fights ended in the first or second round but its also very important to get more rounds of boxing, so it’s the right opponent.”

Iglesias was suitably impressed by how things went at the press conference on Wednesday but intends to steal the show and search out the best opposition in his weight class.

“I think it’s a very good fight card here and very good fighters in the ring,” he said. “Of course, I want to show my skills, I have one goal, to win all the belts at super middleweight and I’m strong enough to carry them all.”

Osleys Iglesias (right) – Photo courtesy of Polsat Boxing

Promoter Camille Estephan of Eye of The Tiger is happy with his latest signing and believes he can make waves in the super middleweight division.

“He’s tall, lanky, he has a similar build to (David) Benavidez,” said Estephan. “He started boxing at 7, he moved to the city where the Cuban national team is at 15 and he was sparring with the champions at that age. His coach is well known to be with Arthur Abraham and others and says he’s the best he’s seen in 30 years. I think we’ve got ourselves a good one.”

Coceres (32-6-1, 18 knockouts) turned professional in 2012. He won 28 out of 29, the lone blemish an early draw on the notoriously tough Argentine circuit. The unheralded fighter gave then-WBO super middleweight titlist Billy Joe Saunders all kinds of problems and was ahead on one of the scorecards when he was stopped in the 11th round.

Since then, the now 32-year-old has fought a handful of other top fighters including Edgar Berlanga (L UD 10), Erik Bazinyan (L UD 10), Meiirim Nursultanov (L UD 10) and, most recently, he was stopped by rising force Diego Pacheco (KO 9).

Coceres should present Iglesias with a challenge, he has usually been a tough outing for several top fighters at 160/ 168-pounds. This fight could show us where the Cuban-born fighter fits into things at the moment. A stoppage would be statement but I feel he may have to settle for a dominant 12-round unanimous decision, which would still be impressive.

Butler-Rolls will headline the event on ESPN+ in the U.S. at 6:15 p.m. ET/ 3:15 p.m. PT and the card will also be broadcast live on punchinggrace.com.

ALSO ON RINGTV:

New Faces: Osleys Iglesias – The Ring (ringtv.com)

Questions and/or comments can be sent to Anson at [email protected].

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