The past few months have been very eventful for Christian Mbilli.
The Montreal-based super-middleweight contender has had to keep up with a revolving door of potential opponents while he and his promoter Eye of the Tiger Management have navigated sanctioning body politics to secure a fight that will open up a title opportunity.
After proposed eliminators with Kevin Lele Sadjo and Diego Pacheco fell through, the Frenchman stumbled upon an even bigger opportunity. That manifested in an interim WBC super-middleweight title fight against Maciej Sulecki, which will take place on June 27 at Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Canada.
For Mbilli, 28-0 (23 KOs), the “show” playing out in front of him was intriguing.
“I was a little bit frustrated that Pacheco refused to fight me two times, for the IBF the first time and the WBC the second time,” he told BoxingScene. “But I don’t care, it’s boxing; some boxers duck another boxer; that’s life; that’s boxing
“But my team has done a very good job with the WBC interim title and they brought me another good fight.”
That fight, against the 33-3 (13 KOs) Sulecki, will be Mbilli’s first taste of something like a world title. The 36 year old from Warsaw, Poland is coming off his biggest win in recent years – a final round stoppage of Ali Akhmedov in February – and has challenged for a world title before, when losing via shutout to Demetrius Andrade in 2019 for the WBO middleweight title. His other notable losses have come against Pacheco and Daniel Jacobs, providing an opportunity for Mbilli to measure himself against those notable names as well.
“For me he’s a very tough boxer; he fought a lot of champions,” Mbilli said. “I’m going to take this fight very seriously. I’m going to be ready for all fighters like it’s a world championship fight. He’s going to bring another style to grow as a fighter. I’m gonna see but I think I’m better than him, I’m a better boxer. But now Pacheco; Jacobs; I think I’m better than those fighters.
“I think right now all the fights are very dangerous. This man has a lot of experience; a lot of big fights. I have to be very careful. I think he is a big challenge for me, it’s not just a regular fight for me; it’s for the interim title and I will be ready to make a big show for all the fans around the world.”
The 30-year-old Mbilli last fought in August, when defeating Sergiy Derevyanchenko by unanimous decision in Quebec City. That victory asserted him as one of the top contenders at 168lbs, as he impressively outslugged an older, but still respected, contender who had rarely been conclusively beaten.
The winner of Mbilli-Sulecki would logically be the next challenger in line for one of the four belts that will be contested on September 13 when the undisputed champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez faces Terence Crawford at a location still to be determined.
While that fight is likely to generate large purses for both boxers, Mbilli isn’t so sure that it will translate into big paydays for other boxers in the super-middleweight division who are hoping to face either boxing superstar.
Mbilli gives the edge to Alvarez, based partially on Crawford’s lack of experience above 154lbs. What he’s less sure of is what this fight means for the rest of the division.
“I hope I will fight the winner,” he said. “I hope but at the end of the day you can be not sure of anything.
“Right now [Canelo] is fighting again with someone from another division. We don’t know what’s gonna happen. For boxing, I don’t know if it’s good, yes or no. It’s more like a good TV show because you have two big names but I don’t know if it’s good for the division because you have a lot of young boxers who are waiting for the chance to be world champions or to fight Canelo.”
While he hopes that winning the interim title will enter him into the discussions for a fight with the winner, Mbilli makes it clear that he’s focused on creating his own path to a world title.
“It’s a world championship right now and I have to be focused,” he said. “It’s a very important moment of my career and I have to be ready to show the people that I’m ready to be the next world champion of the WBC or another federation.”
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for jeetwin360.com and has written for ESPN, the New York Daily News, Rappler, The Guardian, Vice and The Ring magazine. He holds a Master’s degree in Journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and is a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at .