On June 6, the regiment of full-fledged champions from Russia could have grown by one more boxer, but the contender from our country was sent to a terrible knockout with nightmarish consequences. Evgeny ruined the chance of a lifetime in three minutes.

“Everyone is given a chance in life”

By the age of 33, Evgeny Shvedenko had fought 18 times in the professional ring, suffering one defeat. During his career, the Russian boxer held various belts, including the title of Russian professional champion. But the native of Chekhov, Sakhalin, was never a full-fledged world champion.

In 2022, in a confrontation with Cuban William Scull, the status of mandatory challenger for the IBF super middleweight belt was at stake, but Evgeniy lost on points. After that, he won one victory and ended the fight in a draw with undefeated Pavel Silyagin.

It would seem that championship fights can be forgotten for now, but then Shvedenko had a great opportunity to fight for the IBO title. But to do this he had to go to Canada and fight the champion Osleys Iglesias (11-0).

Osleys Iglesias and Evgeny Shvedenko / Photo: © EOTTM

“Everyone in life is given the chance they’ve been waiting for, and mine has arrived. There will be precipitation… a storm,” Shvedenko wrote on social media.

“Losed hard”

Evgeniy was not considered a favorite, but he had a normal training camp with adequate time for preparation. The Russian even managed to work with a psychologist and nutritionist. There were no problems with sparring partners.

But the fight did not go according to Shvedenko’s script. The champion landed a right hook to the temple at the end of the first round. Evgeny fell as if he had been mown down. On the mat, the Russian began to shake terribly. It was good that he did not lose consciousness and was able to accept defeat standing. Naturally, the referee immediately stopped the fight. For Shvedenko, this was the first early defeat in his career.

Osleys Iglesias and Evgeny Shvedenko / Photo: © EOTTM

— Guys, I lost. In the first round, and by knockout. I lost hard, I don’t even know how it happened, who “turned off the light,” who “knocked on the door.” It seems like I saw everything, felt everything, but it happened that way. Thank you for your support, — the Russian addressed his followers on social networks a few hours after the defeat.

After the knockout, Iglesias had an ugly celebration. The champion danced around the ring with a big smile, clearly seeing that his opponent was shaking. Only after performing a victory dance did he come up and hug Evgeniy.

Such a crushing defeat will definitely throw Shvedenko far away in the championship race for a long time, if not forever. 33 years, of course, is not the limit for the second middleweight, but it will be incredibly difficult to rise to the top of the ratings.

Live broadcasts of boxing matches are shown on the federal channel Match TV and the holding’s thematic channels, as well as on the websites matchtv.ru and sportbox.ru.