Photo: Vincent Ethier – Last Saturday, Christian Mbilli defeated Ukrainian boxer Sergiy Derevyanchenko without much difficulty.
“I want to be world champion,” reiterated Christian Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) after his dominating 10-round outing against the ‘Technician’ Sergiy Derevyanchenko (15-6, 10 KOs).
When I was still an inexperienced and somewhat disorganized boxing blogger, I invented ways of writing to stand out from anonymity. That’s when I created the easiest text to write: five potential opponents for Christian Mbilli. However, this approach no longer works at this level. EOTTM and Mbilli want a world championship fight. So, here’s my new idea: five scenarios for the future of Christian M’Billi.
The future of the number 2 on Boxrec in the super middleweight division now becomes political. How do you secure a world championship fight with Saul Alvarez in the picture, the laxity of Mauricio Sulaiman, and the proliferation of belts at the WBA?
Scenario 1: The IBF Route
Since the famous corruption trial, the International Boxing Federation has been the most rigorous and tries to enforce its rules. It took some time, but Daryl Peoples eventually stripped Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez of the title after a hostage reign that lasted since November 2021.
Thus, the number 1 and 2 contenders, William Scull and Vladimir Shishkin, will face each other for the vacant title.
It’s worth noting that the number 3 contender is Christian Mbilli. The IBF could name him the mandatory challenger, recognizing his performance against Sergiy Derevyanchenko as impressive enough to grant him a small pass toward the winner of Scull-Shishkin.
Another scenario here is to call for a purse bid between the number 3 Mbilli and the number 4 Diego Pacheco. Pacheco will face Polish fighter Maciej Sulecki on August 31st.
The risk is high for the mandatory challenger, but by defeating a boxer like Diego Pacheco, Mbilli would gain even more notoriety, which is crucial for hoping to attract a major fight against Canelo.
Scenario 2: The WBC Route
The idea here would be to fill a football stadium by presenting a local French fight between Mbilli and Kevin Lele Sadjo for the WBC interim title.
With a lot of lobbying and politics, great things can happen. Step 1: Hope that the WBO makes the fight between Erik Bazinyan (#2) and Jaime Munguia (#5) an eliminator bout. This could free Christian Mbilli (#1 WBC) to face Kevin Lele Sadjo (#3 WBC) for the WBC interim title. Mauricio Sulaiman could place his friend Canelo as a diamond or franchise champion. It would allow him to avoid his mandatory challenger… And it wouldn’t be the first time Sulaiman has helped his Mexican compatriot.
Then, rent the Stade de France and sell more than 88,000 tickets for this historic fight. The event could even open with a bout between Leïla Beaudoin and Licia Boudersa.
Scenario 3: The WBA Route
Request a fight against the winner between Caleb Plant and Trevor McCumby.
On September 14th, a fight will take place between the two Americans for the WBA interim title. Once again, excluding Edgar Berlanga, who is the number 1 contender and has already secured his championship fight against Canelo, Christian Mbilli holds the best ranking at the WBA.
A fight between Caleb Plant and Christian Mbilli reminds me of the expression “killing two birds with one stone.” There’s a lot of notoriety to gain with a victory against the American, and a WBA belt as a bonus…
Scenario 4: The Alvarez Pursuit
Since David Lemieux, EOTTM has been chasing a multimillion-dollar fight against Saul Alvarez to win the ‘Canelo’ lottery.
To achieve this, Mbilli’s notoriety must be continuously increased, or he must defeat Alvarez’s former opponents.
Caleb Plant fits the desired profile perfectly. Mbilli could use his rankings to go fishing for a big name in the division. He could try to lure John Ryder out of his young retirement. Or, he could even offer to bring Jermell or Jermall Charlo back to the ring. In short, find a fight where comparisons would inevitably put ‘Canelo’ and ‘Solid’ in the same sentence.
Finally, this is what I truly love about boxing. The fights themselves are one thing, but I adore the political game between the bouts. Camille Estephan isn’t done having to dine with top executives of the four associations or attending annual conventions to secure a world championship fight for Christian Mbilli.
But it will eventually happen.
My final prediction: Christian Mbilli will fight for the IBF title against the winner of the Scull-Shishkin fight—and it will be Shishkin—on February 22nd at the Videotron Centre.
