(Quebec) Christian Mbilli had to “win pretty clearly” against Sergiy Derevyanchenko to hope to aspire to a world championship, according to coach Marc Ramsay. If that’s the case, Mbilli can officially start dreaming.
The judges awarded him the victory unanimously (110-90, 99-91, 98-92) after ten rounds.
Mbilli imposed himself with dynamic footwork from the beginning of the fight. With a quick hook, he earned the respect of his opponent, who began to retreat into the cables. Throughout the fight, he managed to maintain the middle of the arena.
Derevyanchenko’s troubles were confirmed when he suffered a major injury to his left biceps in the fourth round. The injury prevented him from landing powerful strikes with that arm. Mbilli also injured his shoulder during the fight.
“Despite the pain, he knew how to use his experience. I would never have believed that he would have so much ability,” admitted Mbilli after the fight.
The strategy was to break him little by little, to break him round by round. At the end, I was a little impatient, I wanted to go for the KO. Unfortunately, it didn’t help me much because I made more mistakes.
Christian Mbilli
“I think Christian can do an even better performance than what he delivered tonight. It’s part of the experience, it was his first major fight in a final like that,” added his coach Marc Ramsay.
Enough for Canelo?
Before the fight, the Mbilli clan made its intentions clear. By managing to clearly defeat Derevyanchenko, it would put itself in a favorable position to convince superstar Canelo Alvarez to face it.
“I’m the man for Canelo Alvarez. I have everything it takes to beat him. Give me eight weeks and I’ll be ready for that fight,” Mbilli said after the fight.
According to the esteemed BoxRec platform, Christian Mbilli is ranked third in the super middleweight rankings. Alvarez sits atop the division.