With less than a month to go before the biggest fight of his career, Christian Mbilli knows what awaits him in Riyadh on October 31. He intends to prove to everyone, whether they believe in him or not, that it is now his turn to reign over the division.
“I feel good, but I’m staying focused on the goal. Yes, I’ve been asking for this fight for years, but now I have to win it, because the ultimate goal was never to fight Canelo — it was to beat Canelo, and that’s exactly what I intend to do on October 31,” the boxer said in an interview.
Mbilli is currently training in Montreal ahead of his upcoming fight in Saudi Arabia.
During his last training camp, he prepared in California, but this time, it was important for him to be at home, where he could maintain his routine and feel as prepared as possible.
Nevertheless, he will leave a few days early to acclimatize to Saudi Arabia and complete his preparations there.
Photo: Virginie Assay – Christian Mbilli
What makes this fight so special
“It’s a big fight, and it’s the one that will prove Christian Mbilli is the best, so I’d be lying if I said it would be a quiet, uneventful night for me,” he says.
However, Christian insists that he has always “thrived under pressure,” something he has learned to manage over the years.
Other people’s opinions do not affect him. Quite the opposite, in fact: he admits that he pays little attention to them.
“As I’ve said in another interview, cowards like Pacheco are pretty rare. With Canelo, it’s business. I mean, why would he have fought me if he could have fought a lesser opponent like Berlanga for the same money?” explains “Solide.”
According to him, Alvarez’s decision to act as though he did not know who he was had nothing to do with fear. Rather, there would have been no benefit in talking about Christian and raising his profile if he had no intention of fighting him.
“It’s all politics in boxing, and I’ve learned to understand and manage that over time. In the end, I’m the one who comes out on top. I’ve become much stronger, and he’s gotten much older,” Christian Mbilli says.
Photo: Boxing News – Canelo Alvarez and Christian Mbilli
Once he finally secured the interim title, things began to fall into place.
He earned a high-profile fight on the undercard of the event that featured Canelo against Terence Crawford.
Then Crawford retired.
Christian was named WBC champion.
And the icing on the cake, according to him?
At the Ring Awards, the Mexican reportedly approached him and said, “Hey champ, how are you, champ?”
At that point, there was no longer any way to pretend he did not know who Christian was.
Photo: Ed Mulholland – Christian Mbilli and his team
What shaped Christian Mbilli and brought him this far
“In my opinion, [Marc Ramsay] is the best coach in the world. I believe I’m his sixth or seventh champion, so I’m not just saying that to make myself look good,” declares the WBC champion.
He also explains that some people questioned his decision to settle in Montreal and invest in his boxing career, but he never doubted that his team’s approach would take him to the top.
If Christian could tell his younger self — the version of him who was hesitant about moving to Quebec — one thing, it would be to go for it anyway.
He believes he would not be where he is today if he had made a different decision.
He even believes that winning this title was a direct result of his decision to settle in Montreal.
“Even though the fight is taking place in Saudi Arabia, you can believe me when I say I’ll be defending my title for Montreal by beating Canelo on October 31,” the athlete concludes.
