In his biggest fight to date, Christian Mbilli made his biggest possible statement.
The unbeaten power puncher exorcised his frustrations from numerous stop-and-start title eliminator negotiations, knocking out Polish veteran Maciej Sulecki in one round Friday at Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Canada, to win the WBC interim super middleweight title.
Mbilli, 29-0 (24 KOs), dropped Sulecki, 33-4 (13 KOs), with an uppercut that he set up with two body shots. Sulecki beat the count but was still unsteady, compelling referee Michael Griffin to halt the bout at the 2-minute, 28-second mark.
"I was expecting everything. I told myself that with every opportunity, he would pay for it. I knew that every time he’d leave an opening, I’d take advantage of it," said Mbilli afterwards.
The victory sets up Mbilli for a potential big fight at 168lb once business between undisputed champion Saul “Canelo” Alvarez and Terence Crawford is settled in their September showdown.
Mbilli, 30, a native of Cameroon who great up in France and now lives in Montreal, has had fiercer battles outside the ring this year, as his promotional team – the Montreal-based Eye of the Tiger Management and Top Rank – navigated failed discussions with Kevin Lele Sadjo and Diego Pacheco for ordered eliminators, only to have a more lucrative opportunity with an interim title come up instead.
Even if a megafight with Alvarez or Crawford isn’t next, Mbilli may still get another big opportunity next as Riyadh Season financier Turki Alalshikh had named him as one of the fighters he would like to see compete on the Alvarez-Crawford card on September 13 in Las Vegas.
“I’m going home to sit down with my team, and we’ll see what happens next. I think there will be some negotiations for an upcoming fight, but in any case, I’m ready for anyone," added Mbilli.
In the co-featured bout, Steven Butler lived up to his “Bang Bang” nickname, blasting out Mexico’s Jose de Jesus Macias in Round 4 of a scheduled 10-round super middleweight bout.
Butler, 36-5-1 (30 KOs), of Montreal, dropped Macias, 29-14-4 (15 KOs), with an overhand right early in the round, before an uppercut-right hand combo dropped his opponent once more to end the fight at the 1-minute, 33-second mark.
Butler, 29, has now won two straight since his ninth-round stoppage loss last June to Patrice Volny, while the 33-year-old Macias, of Jalisco, Mexico, lost for just the second time by stoppage.
Ryan Songalia is a reporter and editor for BoxingScene.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 ryansongalia@gmail.com or on Twitter at @ryansongalia.
