Osleys Iglesias Scores His 4th KO of the Year: Event Summary

By William Dumoulin

Photo credit: Vincent Ethier - Eye of the Tiger

This Thursday, live from the Cabaret of the Montreal Casino, Eye of the Tiger presented its final event of 2024. The main attraction featured the current IBO Super Middleweight Champion, Osleys Iglesias (13-0, 12 KOs), against Ukrainian Petro Ivanov (18-1-2, 13 KOs), ranked 7th and 11th by the IBF, respectively. Here's a summary of the evening's action.

In the main event, Iglesias came out aggressively from the first round, throwing heavy punches. Although Ivanov withstood the early rounds, a powerful straight right hand from the Cuban sent the Ukrainian to the canvas in the 5th round. Ivanov got back up, but referee Junior Padulo decided to stop the fight.

Iglesias retains his IBO title and is likely to move up in the world rankings following this explosive victory. He already feels ready to face the best in the division, including Berlanga, Munguia, or even Canelo.

The co-main event marked the return of Steven Butler (34-5-1, 28 KOs) following his defeat last June to Patrice Volny. For this fight, he faced Fernando Ezequiel Farias (12-3-3, 4 KOs), a last-minute replacement, in an 8-round contest. Unsurprisingly, behind a solid jab, Butler dominated his opponent and finished the fight quickly in the first round. As for his future, Butler prefers to take things one fight at a time, without setting specific goals.

Quebec's rising star Wilkens Mathieu (12-0, 8 KOs) fought his 7th and final bout of the year against Marcos Karalitzky (8-10-2, 2 KOs), who was coming off a loss to Terry Osias last March. Mathieu impressed with a TKO victory in the 4th round. Wilkens is looking forward to a big year in 2025 and hopes to fight for a minor title or even reach the finals or semifinals of a major event.

The new addition to Eye of the Tiger, Dzmitry Asanau (9-0, 4 KOs), had the chance to win his first minor title, the WBC Continental Americas Lightweight Championship, against former world title challenger Matias Rueda (38-3, 32 KOs). Asanau dominated the early rounds, prompting Rueda's corner to throw in the towel at 2:58 of the 5th round.

To open the evening, young Colombian fighter Jhon Orobio (12-0, 11 KOs), trained by Marc Ramsey, faced undefeated Italian Jacopo Colli (9-1-1, 4 KOs) in an 8-round bout. "El Tigre" quickly took control, knocking Colli down twice before referee Martin Forest stopped the fight at 1:12 of the first round.