QUEBEC CITY — As The Ring and WBC’s no. 1 contender at 168 pounds, it shouldn’t take much for Christian Mbilli to prove he deserves a title opportunity. When you consider that The Ring Championship and three of the four major titles are held by the biggest star in boxing, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez, and that the sport of boxing is more like the business of boxing, it is understandable why Mbilli felt he had to make a statement in Quebec City, Canada.
The 29-year-old Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs), a Cameroon-born, France-raised, Montreal-based slugger, staked his place in the division against Sergiy Derevyanchenko, perhaps the unluckiest boxer in the middleweight divisions over the past decade . Derevyanchenko could easily have just one loss on his record – the only one of his five previous losses that no one disputes is his 2020 decision loss to Jermall Charlo.
An emphatic victory would send a message that Mbilli is head and shoulders above the other super middleweights in the division, and give him a strong case for being the best available challenger to Alvarez for the Mexican superstar, after dealing with Edgar completed. Berlanga on September 14 in Las Vegas.
A decisive victory is exactly what Mbilli accomplished last Saturday, August 17 at Center Videotron in a ten-round bout on ESPN. Mbilli shut out Derevyanchenko on one card and won by lopsided scores on the other two to earn a unanimous decision victoryusing body shots to slow the speedy Derevyanchenko, and landing overhand rights over Derevyanchenko’s compromised left hand, which was hampered by an injured bicep early in the fight. Mbilli also found himself a one-armed fighter early on, with his left shoulder suffering an injury. Trainer Marc Ramsay tells The Ring that the injury is likely to be minor lacerations, which will heal with rest.
It was an entertaining but sometimes inarticulate brawl that showcased Mbilli’s power and relentless aggression.
Camille Estephan, president of Eye of the Tiger Management, which promotes Mbilli with Top Rank, argues that any lack of Derevyanchenko has been canceled out by Mbilli’s own injury. He feels a compelling case has been made for Mbilli to be the next logical challenger to Alvarez.
“Christian made our job easy, he completely dominated Derevyanchenko. Nobody ever beat him, but tonight he did. I was really worried about his health, he took a lot of punches. So what are we waiting for? It’s clear that he should fight Canelo. Nobody can pose that danger for him in the division today,” Estephan said.
“Right now I’m ready for big fights. I want to be a world champion. I know that to be the best, I have to beat the best. I don’t want to name names, but everyone knows who is number one. I want the fight with number one,” said Mbilli.
In a sports league, it would be obvious that the number one team and the number two team would logically face off for the championship, but in professional boxing, deals often come down to timing and circumstance. Mbilli, a 2016 Olympian for France, has recently gained more exposure to American audiences, with his last three matches shown live on ESPN or ESPN+. He has built a respectable fan base in Quebec, where he first turned pro in 2017, and drew a crowd of 5,212 for his first main event at Center Videotron, a number Estephan says is more impressive because of how challenging it can be to draw fans to indoor events during the relatively sparse warm months.
The exposure on ESPN brings with it greater media obligations than Mbilli has typically faced in smaller events at the club level, which Ramsay says will help him prepare for big events.
“It’s something especially when you fight a veteran like Derevyanchenko, you have to go through these week-long fights, deal with the media, deal with the pressure of ESPN. You have to go past those fights to get ready for the big stage. It’s not something you learn in the gym, you have to do it. The majority of boxers can’t pass that test and he did very well tonight,” said Ramsay
As the mandatory challenger, Mbilli can activate his mandatory challenger status, though of course the belt is worth much more to him around Alvarez’s waist than it is empty. Alvarez, whose Hall of Fame status has long been assured, showed he will not be defined by the belts, having vacated the IBF super middleweight belt in May rather than enter negotiations against lesser-known Germany-based Cuban William Scull to handle. .
“In all fairness, it’s very difficult to force Canelo to do anything. He is the face of boxing. But I really feel that Christian can beat him. I think if the fans demand it, and the media demand it. As for potential opponents right now, Canelo doesn’t have many options. He has options, but I think tonight we became the most credible option,” Estephan said.
The question of “why Mbilli?” is much easier to answer than the question of “who else but Mbilli?” The biggest fight Alvarez faced was David Benavidez, the former WBC super middleweight titleholder who has now moved up to 175 pounds. If that fight could have happened, it probably would have already been made. Alvarez already has the no. 2 contender Jaime Munguia in a one-sided all-Mexico showdown this past Cinco de Mayo weekend that drew 17,492 to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
Promoter Camille Estephan (L) and The Ring’s no. 3 contender Osleys Iglesias (R). Photo by Ryan Songalia
Aside from Munguia and Berlanga, there are no other fighters at 168 pounds whose names would come close to being recognizable in the United States. Osleys Iglesias (11-0, 10 KOs), The Ring’s no. 3 contender, showed he was a formidable threat in the making, with stopped former title challenger Sena Agbeko in two rounds on the Mbilli-Derevyanchenko undercard, but he is still in the early stages of becoming more familiar to North American audiences after fighting exclusively in Europe for the first four years of his career.
One slot further, Diego Pacheco (21-0, 17 KOs) of Los Angeles takes his first step against fringe contender Maciej Sulecki on August 31st, while the no. 5 contender Vladimir Shishkin (16-0, 10 KOs) will face Scull in October for the IBF belt vacated by Alvarez.
Estephan admits that an Alvarez fight will have to take place in the United States, although he says with a smile that he would happily host a rematch at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium, the site of the first Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran- battle would set up. in 1980.
“I definitely think that if Canelo Alvarez comes to fight Christian Mbilli here, we’re going to have a sold-out arena twice the size of this one. Do the finances make sense? I don’t believe that fight can happen in Canada, the first one anyway. If we beat him, we’ll give him a rematch, we’ll have it here, but we can’t compete with the gates that happen in Vegas,” Estephan said.
“We need to talk to Top Rank, they are our partners in this, see what the finances can be. From a sporting perspective, it is very clear to me that Christian has proven to be a very credible opponent. We are going to work very hard to make that happen.”
And what if an Alvarez fight doesn’t materialize?
“Anybody. I don’t want to name any names, but I am ready to fight anyone,” said Mbilli.
“Someone with a belt,” Estephan added.
Ryan Songalia has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler and The Guardian, and is part of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism Class of 2020. He can be reached at (email protected).
