Promoter Camille Estephan oversees a trio of super middleweight contenders, all within touching distance of a world title shot.
Tomorrow night, Erik Bazinyan (32-0-1, 23 KOs) travels to the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, to challenge Jaime Munguia in the 12-round main event with no title on the line. Despite coming off a contentious split-decision draw to Shakeel Phinn this past May, Estephan believes the timing couldn’t be better for the Canadian-based Armenian to collide with Munguia as the Mexican attempts to bounce back from a career-first defeat against Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.
“Erik is an underdog but a very live underdog in my opinion,” Estephan said exclusively to FightsATW. “I think he is a better boxer than Munguia. There are some things that are in favor of Munguia; obviously, he is at home, and he has more experience, but Erik always brings his game up to the level of his opposition. Hopefully he can do that and come up with a big performance. Things fell into place with this fight; it’s an opportunity he cannot miss. He’s worked all his life for this, so it’s time.” Bazinyan is ranked within the top seven of all four governing bodies, as high as second in the WBO. The 29-year-old will be on the cusp of a world title shot if he can upset the odds in Arizona.
“We’ve just been working on getting him healthy [since his last fight],” Estephan added. “We don’t like to use excuses, but he got in the ring very sick. Most fighters come into a fight with some sort of injury, but his level of energy just wasn’t there. We could see it in the first round; he just wasn’t himself. To be honest with you, I think in his last couple of fights, Erik could have given more, and he maybe needed that motivation that he is certainly going to get fighting a guy like Munguia. He’s a major name; it’s all the motivation he is going to need. He’s had a very good camp, and I think he could surprise Munguia and shock the world.”
Joining Bazinyan in Eye of the Tiger’s super middleweight section of their far-reaching stable is Christian Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) and current IBO champion Osleys Iglesias (12-0, 11 KOs).
“On top of all that, we have Iglesias, who will be announcing a fight on Friday actually.” Estephan continued, “We have a top 15 opponent and a top contender. The fans will love it. He’ll be defending his IBO title, and a win will position him at number two or three in most federations because it’s a considerable opponent. The people of Québec are really starting to rally behind him. His scary knockouts are going around the world. He’s the boogeyman! I haven’t seen power like that. Honestly, it’s scary; it’s devastating. What we announce on Friday will be exciting. The winner will get the number one or two spot in the IBF. We will have to force things with him because he will not be invited to any dance. The winner of William Scull vs. Vladimir Shishkin [for the IBF title on October 19] will 100 percent be our target.
“We also have Christian Mbilli, who did a great job against [Sergiy] Derevyanchenko. He got injured [left shoulder], but the operation went very well, and we expect a full recovery. I think that if Derevyanchenko hadn’t gotten hurt, I think he would have gotten knocked out because he was fighting before he got hurt. In Québec, it is difficult to host events inside during the summer because everyone wants to be outside, given the harsh winters. However, we still did over five thousand fans, which was an excellent result. I was really happy with it, and he’s become a fan favorite in Québec. We are just making sure he recovers properly, and he will fight at some point next year.”
With the sprawl of ranking positions under the guidance of the Montreal-based promoter and the start of Canelo vacating his four belts, surely it puts Estephan’s men on a collision course with each other?
“To be honest with you, we would rather they not,” Estephan answered. “We would rather diversify the routes with different belts for different guys. Then, if they are champions, it will be worth it. Unification fights, we will be way more inclined to say, ‘that makes sense,’ but so much is still up in the air. We got to see what Canelo is going to do and what the federations are going to do about it. Certainly, we are going to have some fun fights, starting with Friday night. We will have a lot to say in that division with hopefully a champion or two, or maybe three. We have some exciting fighters that fans want to see. Québec is just becoming a stronger and stronger boxing market.”
This article first appeared on Fights Around The World and was syndicated with permission.
