Lester Martinez is moving forward with his next option in lieu of an immediate rematch with Christian Mbilli following their entertaining draw on September 13.
Mbilli, the interim WBC super middleweight titleholder, intends to gain an exception and pursue a bout with Jaime Munguia. That has led Martinez into a headline spot on a March ProBox card in Southern California, BoxingScene has learned.
Guatemala’s Martinez, now 19-0-1 (16 KOs), and France’s Mbilli, 29-0-1 (24 KOs), shared a Fight of the Year candidate on the undercard of Saul “Canelo” Alvarez vs. Terence Crawford at Las Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.
And while the WBC immediately ordered a rematch, Mbilli is looking to avoid that bout right away, shifting to talks with Munguia, 45-2 (35 KOs), a former junior middleweight titleholder turned super middleweight contender, for an early 2026 bout. The Ring Magazine first reported the Mbilli-Munguia discussions on Monday.
“It’s the fight the fans want and deserve, but he doesn’t want it,” Martinez told BoxingScene of his Mbilli rematch. “He wants to fight Munguia, and I don’t blame him.”
Mbilli promoter Camille Estephan of Eye of the Tiger said the timing is ideal to meet Munguia now and Martinez later.
“Mbilli wants to fight Munguia, and Munguia wants to fight Mbilli, and it would be a great fight given their abilities,” Estephan told BoxingScene on Monday. “In my book, Mbilli-Martinez was Fight of the Year, and Munguia is all-action, too.”
Mbilli-Munguia could be staged as early as January, BoxingScene learned.
ProBox owner Garry Jonas answered Estephan’s comment by tweaking the Canadian promoter’s statement: “Martinez wants to fight Mbilli, but apparently Mbilli doesn’t want to fight Martinez.
“We were forced into a 10-round championship fight with Mbilli, and we feel if the fight went 12 rounds, we clearly would have won it,” Jonas added. “In the meantime, we will make the best of our other plans.”
While BoxingScene learned Mbilli has not yet requested an exception from the WBC to fight Martinez, it’s obvious engaging with Munguia means he expects an exception will be granted.
Jonas said he has received encouragement from WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman that Martinez, by winning in March, will be first in line to meet the Mbilli-Munguia winner.
And that bout could perhaps be for the full title given the possibility that undisputed super middleweight champion Crawford will vacate his belts for a move to middleweight in an effort to become a six-division champion next year.
Upon learning weeks ago that Mbilli wanted to shy away from him, Martinez, 30, embraced the idea of topping a main event on a card that will be placed in Southern California to maximize interest from his countrymen, with hundreds of thousands of Guatemalans residing in the region.
“Bringing Lester to his fan base in the Los Angeles area is a pretty good alternative for Lester and ProBox, and we will make it a big card,” Jonas said. “Lester was given a hero’s welcome when he returned to Guatemala. His popularity has blown up since that fight. So we think the time is appropriate to bring him ‘home’ to his strongest possible fan base here in the U.S.”
