Super middleweight Christian Mbilli (28-0, 23 KOs) hopes to bring Diego Pacheco to his adopted home of Quebec since the IBF has ordered a world title eliminator between the pair.
The IBF officially ordered the elimination bout last week. The winner will be in line to collide with German-based Cuban William Scull, who defeated Vladimir Shishkin for the vacant title last month in Falkensee, Germany.
“My promoter spoke to me before the fight between Shishkin and Scull to say that the fight with Pacheco is a possibility,” Mbilli said in an exclusive interview with FightsATW. “I am happy to have the chance to fight Pacheco. I think it will be a very, very good fight. It’s a great opportunity for me to have a big fight and for me to be a champion too. I’m very happy about it.
“My promoter is talking with his team right now to negotiate the fight. I hope the fight takes place in Canada. I know that my team wants to do the fight in Canada. My promoter wants to bring the fight to Canada. I think it can happen; I hope. Obviously, everybody wants to fight at home, but we are going to see what happens with the negotiations. I think my promoter will do his best to bring the fight to Quebec. We will see from the result of the negotiation.”
Mbilli scored a lopsided decision over Sergiy Derevyanchenko this past August as the headliner at Centre Videotron in Quebec City in front of more than 5000 spectators. “In that fight, I got an injury on my left arm,” Mbilli explained. “It was difficult after the third round, but it was a very difficult fight having to fight with one hand. It was a great experience. It was my first big fight, and I learned a lot from the experience.”
His promoter Camille Estephan told FightsATW that: “The vision for Christian is that he will be the A-side at the Videotron.” Has his latest leading act helped towards building him into a household name in Canada? “Yeah, a little bit because it was a big fight,” Mbilli continued. “This fight was on another level. The Videotron is a very good place with very nice people there too. I think that if we can bring Pacheco to the Videotron, I think we can get a lot of people in the arena. I think we can organize this; it’s the main goal for my team right now.”
Pacheco (22-0, 18 KOs) is currently promoted by Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom. The 23-year-old American stopped Maciej Sulecki inside six rounds in August. Standing at 6ft 4in, the rangy Pacheco has a more than 80 percent knockout ratio, similar to Mbilli.
“I think it’s a great challenge for me,” Mbilli said. “He has good power, a great power punch and he’s very tall too. For me, though, it’s not a problem if he is tall. I’ve fought like this my whole career. I think it will be a very good fight but a fight that will show that I am the best. I don’t know when the fight will happen. I hope very soon, but I don’t know.
“I’m back in the gym right now. I came back four weeks ago. I am ready to fight as soon as they have an agreement. I think it’s a great fight because we have different styles. Pacheco is tall, so I think he will try to keep the distance.”
As Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez’s grip on the super middleweight division loosens, the bottled-necked pack of contenders tussle for mandatory positions.
“If I have a championship fight, I’m happy to fight anywhere,” Mbilli added. “I’m happy to fight any type of opposition. I think Canelo can make any decision he wants. We all know Canelo is the best in the division. Of course, I want to fight Canelo because I want to prove I am the best in the division. We will see. Me and my team don’t want to have Canelo as the only option. We have to move maybe without Canelo. We have to be adaptable to have big fights.”
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