Mbilli vs Pacheco & Iglesias vs Sadjo Doubleheader Being Explored For May In Quebec City

“Nothing has really changed in our plan for Christian,” Estephan said. “From day one, plan A for us was always the WBC. Pacheco’s team has not answered us yet. They have a couple of days to answer us. Then we will see if Pacheco will give the fans the fight we want to see. The reason why we steered away from the Sadjo fight is because the bid was based on certain time limitations. Sadjo’s promoter bid for the show to take place outside the agreed dates, knowing he would do the show outside these dates from day one. It changed everything! It was the final straw when Sadjo got an exception from the IBF. I’ll never put up with unfairness. We’ve definitely made the right choice.

“We have a Plan C because there are other fighters highly ranked within the WBC that we could do this with, but Mbilli and Pacheco are seen as the best thing at 168, so it would be great to do the fight. It’s a fight that is going to happen, whether it is now or later, but I hope we can deliver it now. We have dates reserved at the Videotron in Quebec City, and we can do a very good gate. Fans here are waiting for this fight.”

(Editor’s note: FightsATW reached out to Team Pacheco for comment, and they recently made contact with Camille Estephan, so there is no deal set in place at the moment. An update will be provided if the deal is finalized.)

Y12 outbid Estephan 878,000 to 776,000 USD, with Paris primed to stage the fight.

“When you do a purse bid, everyone has to have the same conditions,” Estephan explained. “We worked with a 90-day condition. He worked with different conditions knowing that he would do the fight outside the April 30 deadline. That was not fair. We were surprised we lost the purse bid, but we don’t think we would have lost if he had put the show on before the agreed date. It’s like playing Monopoly, but not everybody has the same rules. This is not a game; this is the career of one of the best fighters in the world that we have in our hands. So we don’t play games.”

Estephan also presides over Cuban super middleweight Osleys Iglesias. The German-based southpaw has been in devastating form with seven consecutive knockout victories. Iglesias (13-0, 12 KOs) is ranked at number 4 by the IBF and number 3 by the WBC.

“We are waiting on the IBF to continue with their elimination process,” Estephan stated. “If you look at the IBF ratings, you currently have at 3 Sadjo and at 4 Iglesias. They’ve put Vladimir Shishkin in 2nd place because of whatever happened in Germany [with Scull]. But normally this elimination process should carry on because even when Shishkin was at number 2, the IBF had ordered Mbilli vs. Sadjo.

“Now that Mbilli is out because he loses at least ten spots, now at 12 with the IBF, you have Sadjo and Iglesias. We are hoping to ideally get that fight on the undercard of Mbilli vs. Pacheco. We will make them an offer. If you look at the whole economics, I think that they thought Mbilli vs. Sadjo could have generated quite a bit of interest in France with it being two undefeated Frenchmen etc. It would not be the same thing with Iglesias and Sadjo, so I would like to try and bring it here. I think it would be a little easier, and we will try to make it happen from early to mid-May. I hope to hear answers from both guys this week.”

Estephan’s ambitious card could also be joined by a contest between two of his own. Erik Bazinyan and Steven Butler were due to collide this month in Montreal but was cancelled due to injury.

“Bazinyan got injured, so we will probably place that fight on the card in Quebec City too,” Estephan added. “We had April 10th ready, but it’s too soon for Bazinyan to be able to get back into training and get ready. He needs those extra four or five weeks.”