The sides have until Dec. 2 to strike a deal before a purse bid is ordered. Iglesias (16-0, 15 KOs) is The Ring's No. 2 super middleweight. The 28-year-old Cuban southpaw fights out of Quebec under the EOTTM promotional banner. His stablemate, Christian Mbilli, was defeated by Canelo Alvarez on Saturday. Iglesias won the vacant IBF title in April when Pavel Silyagin retired after eight rounds. Iglesias, a lanky puncher, made his first defense last month with a seventh-round TKO of Oliver Zaren in Quebec City. He has won nine consecutive fights by knockout.

Zinad (24-1, 18 KOs) will move down from light heavyweight for his second shot at a world title. Zinad's lone defeat came in his only other title challenge, when he stepped in on short notice against Dmitry Bivol and was stopped in six rounds in their June 2024 light heavyweight title fight. The 32-year-old from Libya has won two fights since, most recently a TKO of Ante Bilic last November, but he has been inactive for nearly a year. He’ll be a major underdog against the much-avoided Iglesias.

A victory keeps Iglesias on course for the division's biggest prize: a fight with Canelo Alvarez that would crown a new Ring Magazine champion at 168 pounds