When Christian Mbilli steps into the ring in Pennsylvania on Saturday, he’ll be all set for the biggest fight of his career.
The French of Cameroonian origin will face American Ronald Ellis in an attempt to get his hands on the WBC Continental Americas super welterweight title.
Mbilli (19-0-0, 18 K.-O.), 26, is at 10e world rank in its category, according to the ranking of Ring Magazine. A victory would allow him to make his place in the top 5. He could thus hope to face the American David Benavidez or even the Mexican Canelo Álvarez, who holds all the belts.
“It’s really the biggest fight of my career”, launched the boxer in the minutes which followed his media training at the Academy of boxing Ramsay, Tuesday noon.
We really have a quality opponent, who has fought world champions, and it is really very important to take the next step to assert yourself, to beat that opponent correctly.
Christian Mbilli
This opponent is Ronald “Akeem” Ellis (18-2-2, 12 KOs), who just faced Benavidez in his last fight. It is also this duel that Mbilli, “Solid” by his nickname, studied to prepare.
” [Ellis] is quite combative, he has his qualities, he noted. We have seen that he has a good amateur background. He boxes very well. He is very fast. I think we have a higher quality compared to him and we are really ready to beat him.
“We saw that he was a fairly valiant person, he cashed a lot,” he continued. He mastered the pressure, managed to resist. I think the flaws, we will see them in the fight. Every flaw, or every mistake he will make, he will pay [pour] during the fight.
“But of course we can’t give you all the information!” He laughed.
Mbilli’s most important fight so far has been in the quarterfinals of the Rio Olympics in 2016, when he lost to Cuban Arlen López. Saturday’s challenge surpasses him in terms of importance. The mental preparation of the boxer was not the same.
“An Olympic cycle is a team cycle,” he said. […] There, I was all alone in the preparation, even if I have a few companions. We were able to focus on the strategy to adopt for this fight. I think I’m more armed today to face [mon adversaire que je l’étais] in the Olympic quarter-finals. ”
Ultimately, the objective with this fight is “to go get a level above, get the rankings, send a message to the category and, why not, go find Canelo [Álvarez] medium term “.
Work ethic
Mbilli was full of power in training on Tuesday. According to his trainer, Marc Ramsay, his work ethic “borders on perfection”.
“It’s getting a bit of a virus in my gym with Artur [Beterbiev]. Even at a young age he [Mbilli] is already made a role model for the next generation of boxers who train here. Everyone gets everyone involved in this a bit. It’s becoming the norm in the gym. This is something that is fantastic for a coach. ”
“Each boxer pushes himself a little compared to the model he sees,” added Mbilli. It is sure that Artur [Beterbiev] is kind of the model of the room at the moment. […] Before Artur arrived, no one was making hammers. Since he does it, everyone has been doing it. Each boxer pushes each other and tries to get the best of the other, avoiding flaws, of course, because everyone has their flaws. ”
The duel between Mbilli and Ellis, presented by A&H Boxing and Capital Punishment Boxing Club, in association with Eye of the Tiger Management and The Queen, will be held at the Zembo Shrine Auditorium in Harrisburg. The judges were chosen by the Pennsylvania commission, Ramsay said.
“We oversaw the whole process to ensure that the judges in place were not from Ellis State,” he explained. Of course, there is no Quebec judge either. They are all neutral and veteran New York area judges. ”
Note that boxers Thomas Chabot (5-0-0, 5 K.-O.), Alexandre Gaumont (2-0-0, 1 K.-O.), Angel Pérez (3-0-0, 3 K. -O.) And Antonio Pérez (2-0-0, 1 KO.) will also be in action that evening.