Eye of the Tiger President Camille Estephan has enjoyed a good couple of years helping steer his international stable into contention, with the likes of Christian Mbilli, Osleys Iglesias, and Arslanbek Makhmudov all on the cusp of career-defining fights.
From his Montreal base, Estephan has continued to expand his crop of talented prospects and world title contenders from all corners of the globe. Frenchman Mbilli was recently elevated to WBC super middleweight champion as news broke that Cuban knockout artist Iglesias would fight Pavel Silyagin for the IBF belt on April 9, and Russia’s Makhmudov has a date set with Tyson Fury on April 11.
Eleven of Estephan’s stable are currently ranked inside the top 15 with the major sanctioning bodies, with Belarus’ Dzimitry Asanau and Venezuela’s Albert Ramirez pressing for world title shots. Turkish light heavyweight Mehmet Unal and Colombia’s Jhon Orobio add to the impressive international roster. But it is another Cuban whom Estephan has earmarked for success in 2026.
“You really need to get excited about Lenar Perez,” Estephan said in an exclusive interview for Boxing Social. “We recently signed him. He’s top three with the WBA. He’s not a starter; he’s already proven. He beat Aleksei Egorov in his last fight, which was a hell of a fight. Egorov is a very difficult fighter to face. On the amateur scene, Egorov was a beast, and he beat some really big names. Lenar beat him, and we signed him after that.”
Perez (15-0, 14 KOs) will make his EOTT debut against veteran cruiserweight Isaac Chilemba at the Montreal Casino tomorrow night live on DAZN. The 28-year-old has had an intriguing career, primarily fighting in Russia, with appearances in Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. He comes off a split-decision victory over Egorov in the away corner in Banja Luka, Bosnia and Herzegovina, last April, which led to him signing with Estephan. As an amateur he missed the cut for the 2022 Olympic Games, but rather than wait for the 2026 Games in LA, Perez opted to move to Russian to embark on his professional career in 2018.
“He’s on a very exciting card in Montreal,” Estephan added. “This is going to be the guy. As much as we can be excited about Asanau and Ramirez, he’s another Cuban. Can he do what Iglesias has done? We have high hopes that he can. He’s very exciting. We have another guy called Moreno Fendero, and we also have Wilkens Mathieu, who we are trying to close a fight with. We are also very excited about Wyatt Sanford, the Canadian Olympian.”
