Eye of the Tiger Management will kick off its 2024-25 season this Thursday at the Cabaret du Casino de Montréal with three fights for belts, including one for the interim World Boxing Association (WBA) super welterweight world championship.
Mary Spencer (8-2, 6 KOs) will try for a third time to get her hands on a world title. This time, the Montrealer will face German Naomi Mannes (7-2-1, 4 KOs), who won the WBA Intercontinental title in the division in her last outing, last April, against British Hannah Rankin.
Spencer has twice bitten the dust in the world championship, both times against Belgian Femke Hermans, who won by unanimous and majority decisions, in December 2022 and October 2023.
PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Spencer has twice bitten the dust in the world championship, both times against Belgium’s Femke Hermans (right).
Both boxers are ranked worldwide. Spencer is ranked third in the WBA and International Boxing Federation (IBF), fourth in the World Boxing Organization (WBO) and fifth in the World Boxing Council (WBC). Mannes is ranked fourth in the WBA and sixth in the IBF.
Two other minor belts will also be at stake this evening, both from the North American Boxing Federation (NABF). Australian light heavyweight Imam Khataev (7-0, 7 KOs) will first attempt a first title defense against Argentine veteran Ezequiel Maderna (31-12, 21 KOs).
Then, in the grand final of the evening, super lightweight Arthur Biyarslanov (15-0, 13 KOs) will also seek to defend his title for the first time. He will face Hungarian Tamas Kiliti (10-0, 6 KOs).
Eight fights will be presented during this first evening, presented on ESPN+ in the United States, on TVA Sports in Quebec and PunchingGrace.com elsewhere in the world. EOTTM will be at the Casino du Lac-Leamy in October, in addition to returning to the Casino de Montréal on November 7.
Super middleweight Erik Bazinyan (32-0-1, 23 KOs) – No. 2 WBO, No. 4 WBA, No. 6 WBC and No. 7 IBF – will be in Phoenix, Arizona, on September 20, to face Jaime Munguia (43-1, 34 KOs), a top 10 in the world in the four major associations.